JP3446067B2 - Card processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a card processing apparatus for subtracting a transaction amount from balance information of a prepaid card and recording the result on the card as new balance information. 2. Description of the Related Art Prepaid cards are widely used for pay phones and various vehicles or for shopping.
In these facilities, a card processing device is installed so that transactions using a prepaid card can be performed. When a prepaid card is inserted, the card processing device reads the balance recorded on the card, deducts the transaction amount from the balance, and uses the result of the deduction as a new balance on the card. The fee is settled by writing in. By the way, in such a transaction using a prepaid card, a prepaid card having a balance less than the transaction amount may be inserted into the card processing device. Conventionally, there has been a card processing device capable of accepting the addition of a second or subsequent card to such a card having a remaining balance shortage and adjusting the transaction amount from the balance of a plurality of prepaid cards. [0005] In a conventional card processing apparatus capable of performing settlement by adding such a card, when the balance of the first card is smaller than the transaction amount, the uncollected amount obtained by subtracting the balance of the card from the transaction amount is stored. Then, rewrite the balance of the card to zero, return the card, compare the balance of the second inserted prepaid card with the uncollected amount, and if this balance is less than the uncollected amount, Then, the uncollected amount is updated with the amount obtained by subtracting the remaining amount of this card from the uncollected amount, and the process of returning the card after reducing the remaining amount of this card to zero is repeated. When a card with a remaining amount equal to or greater than the uncollected amount is inserted, the remaining amount of the card is subtracted from the uncollected amount, and the remaining amount of the card is updated.
Complete the settlement for the transaction amount. With this processing, it becomes possible to use a plurality of prepaid cards whose remaining balance is small. The addition of the card is usually restricted to a predetermined number. [0006] However, in the conventional card processing device for accepting the addition of a card as described above, even if all the prepaid cards possessed by the customer are inserted, the transaction amount does not reach the transaction amount. If the customer requests to cancel the transaction or pay the transaction amount in cash, the installer of the prepaid card must repay the collected amount in cash for the prepaid card which has already collected the remaining amount. There was the inconvenience of not becoming. [0007] Even if the transaction is completed with one prepaid card, even if the customer requests the return of the product, the balance information of the card has already been rewritten. There was the inconvenience of having to repay the cash for the customer. [0008] It is an object of the present invention to provide a card processing apparatus which solves this problem and eliminates the need to repay cash to a customer of a prepaid card. In order to achieve the above object, a card processing apparatus according to the present invention reads balance information of a prepaid card to be inserted and subtracts a transaction amount or a part thereof from the balance. As a result, in the card processing device for rewriting the balance information of the card, when rewriting the balance information of the prepaid card, the balance before rewriting or the amount subtracted from the balance is used as the transaction history information of the card in a predetermined transaction history. Transaction information writing means to record in the area, and subtraction
Of the prepaid card inserted for the amount
The balance is insufficient and the balance information on the card is rewritten to zero
The initial value is stored in the predetermined rescue flag area of the card.
A rescue flag writing means for recording a predetermined value different from the predetermined value, and whether the predetermined value is recorded in a rescue flag area of a prepaid card inserted after a predetermined rescue activation operation is performed.
Determining means for determining whether or not remedy is provided by the determining means
It is determined that the predetermined value is recorded in the flag area
To a prepaid card, the balance information recorded in the card, based on transaction history information recorded in the transaction history area of the card, rewriting example the last transaction before the balance information of the card, of the card Rewrite transaction history information to zero ,
Further, there is provided a balance rescue unit for returning the value of the rescue flag area to an initial value . With the above-described configuration, in the card processing device of the present invention, when the balance of the prepaid card is reduced and rewritten, the balance before rewriting or the amount subtracted from the balance is written in the transaction history area of the card. Is recorded as transaction history information. Also, insert for the amount to be reduced
The remaining amount of the prepaid card
When the card's balance information is rewritten to zero,
A predetermined value different from the initial value is recorded in the predetermined relief flag area.
It is. When a prepaid card is inserted after a predetermined rescue activation operation is performed, the rescue flag of the card is
It is determined whether the predetermined value is recorded in the area,
When it is determined that the predetermined value is recorded, the balance information recorded on the card is rewritten to the balance information before the previous transaction based on the transaction history information recorded in the transaction history area, The transaction history information is rewritten to zero, and the value of the rescue flag area is returned to the initial value. An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an appearance of a card processing device 20 according to one embodiment. The card processing device 20 is arranged near each food in the employee cafeteria, and a person who takes a favorite food inserts a prepaid card into the card processing device near the food, and It is for paying the amount of food with the balance of the card. A card insertion slot 22 is provided on the front surface of a housing 21 of the card processing device 20, and an OK lamp 24 which lights up when a normal process is performed on the inserted card, In addition to the shortage lamp 25 that lights up when the balance is insufficient and the NG lamp 26 that lights up when the card is not read normally, a request is made to add a card when the balance becomes insufficient. Key 27 to be operated when the transaction is performed, and a cancel key 28 to be operated when a request to cancel the transaction is made when the balance becomes insufficient.
Is provided. As shown in FIG. 2, a card transport mechanism 31 for drawing in or ejecting a card inserted from the card insertion slot 22 and a card transport mechanism 31 are provided inside the card processing device 20. A read / write circuit 32 for reading and writing magnetic information on the card drawn in by the printer, a thermal printer 33 for printing on the surface of the card, transport control for the inserted card, read / write control of magnetic information, print control Further, a control unit 34 having a microcomputer configuration for performing lighting control of each lamp and detecting key operation is provided. The control unit 34 has two types of processing modes, a transaction mode in which a transaction amount is settled from a prepaid card and a rescue mode activated by inserting a rescue activation card 50 described later. FIG. 3 shows a prepaid card 40 used in this cafeteria system. Prepaid card 4
0, a company code area 41 for recording a company code of an issuing company, a rescue flag area 42 for recording a rescue flag, a transaction history area 43 for recording a transaction history amount, a card And a position information area 45 for recording position information indicating the print position on the card surface.
Note that the initial value of the rescue flag and the transaction history amount at the time of issuing the prepaid card are both zero. The opposite surface of the prepaid card 40 is subjected to a heat-sensitive process of discoloring with heat so that printing can be performed by a thermal prepaid card. FIG. 4 shows the rescue activation card 50. A predetermined rescue activation code is recorded on the rescue activation card 50. The rescue activation card 50
Is used by a cafeteria clerk or the like when a customer requests it. FIG. 5 shows a control unit 34 of the card processing device 20.
Is shown. Hereinafter, the operation of the card processing device 20 will be described based on this flowchart. First, the amount of food collected by the card processing device 20 is substituted for A (S1). When the card is inserted into the card slot 22, the card Ca
It is drawn into the apparatus by over de transport mechanism 31, after the magnetic information is read, the card by the reading information it is determined whether a prepaid card is made (S2~5). If the inserted card is a prepaid card, it is determined whether the balance information is equal to or more than A. If the balance is not insufficient, the OK lamp 24 is turned on and A is subtracted from the balance. The result of the subtraction is magnetically recorded on the card as a new balance (S6-8). Then, the new balance is printed at a position corresponding to the printing position information recorded on the card, the printing position information is rewritten to printing position information corresponding to the next printing position, and then the card is ejected ( S9-11). When the remaining amount of the prepaid card is smaller than A, the shortage lamp 25 is lit to indicate that the remaining amount is insufficient, and that the shortage determination is not repeated N times (for example, 5 times). After confirmation, the operation waits for the customer to operate the additional key or the cancel key (S12 to S15). When the cancel key 28 is operated by the customer, the card is ejected, and when the additional key 27 is operated, the amount A
The result of subtracting the remaining amount of this card from A is set to A as the uncollected amount (S16). Then, the balance of the card is recorded in the transaction history area, the rescue flag is set to 1, and the balance of the card is rewritten to zero (S17 to S19). Further, the rewritten new balance (zero) is printed at a position corresponding to the print position information, the print position information is updated to the next position, and then the card is ejected (S20-22). As a result of the processing for the card with the remaining balance short, the balance before the insertion (300 yen) is recorded on the magnetic recording surface of the card 40 as the transaction history amount, for example, as shown in FIG. Then, the remaining amount is rewritten to 0 yen, the rescue flag is set to 1, and a position corresponding to, for example, P (n) on the printing surface of this card, as shown in FIG. Following the balance $ 300, $ 0 is printed. Then, the print position information is changed from P (n) to P (n).
It is updated to (n + 1). When the customer who receives this card inserts a second prepaid card to make up for the shortage, the remaining amount of the card is compared with the uncollected amount A. The settlement is performed according to the processes S7 to S11. If the uncollected amount cannot be settled even with the second card, the remaining amount of this card is magnetically recorded as the transaction history amount and the remaining amount of the card is rewritten to zero in accordance with the aforementioned processes S12 to S22. , The remaining amount after rewriting is printed. When the N-th (for example, the fifth) prepaid card is inserted and the remaining amount of the card is less than the uncollected amount, a notification (not shown) is given by a buzzer sound or the like, and the card is inserted. Will be returned. Here, when the customer who has returned the Nth card requests to change to cash payment, the clerk inserts the rescue activation card 50 into the card processing device 20. If it is determined in step S23 that the rescue activation card 50 has been inserted, the card processing device 20 ejects the card, enters the rescue mode, and waits for the insertion of a prepaid card (S23).
~ 25). When the prepaid card 40 shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B is inserted, the card is pulled in, the information is read, and it is determined whether the rescue flag is 1 (see FIG. 6). S26-28). When the rescue flag is determined to be 1, the OK lamp 24 is turned on, and as shown in FIG. 6C, the remaining amount of 0 yen of this card is the amount recorded in the transaction history area (ie, the amount recorded in the transaction history area). It is rewritten to 300 yen (card balance before the previous transaction) (S29, 30). Then, the transaction history amount and the rescue flag are rewritten to 0 (S31). Then, as shown in FIG. 6D, the remaining amount of the card returned to the original amount by this rescue processing is printed on the printing surface of the card 40, and the printing position information is stored in the next position P. After being updated to (n + 2), this card is ejected (S32-S34). When the inserted card is neither a prepaid card nor a rescue activation card, or when a card with a rescue flag other than 1 is inserted in the rescue mode, the NG lamp 26 is turned on and the card is ejected (S35). In this manner, the customer who receives the card whose remaining amount has been rescued receives the remaining (N
-2) cards can be saved one by one. In this way, the customer who receives the relief of the remaining amount of the card pays the amount of the food in cash or stops buying it. Since the transaction history information of the prepaid card once relieved becomes 0, the rescue cannot be continued. The remedy for the prepaid card is
This can be performed without inserting the Nth card. In other words, the customer has only one prepaid card with insufficient balance, for example, without noticing that the balance is insufficient,
If the card is returned to the card processing unit after the balance has been rewritten to zero, if the customer requests it, insert the rescue activation card and replace the balance of this card with the original balance. You can go back. In the above embodiment, the rescue mode of the card processing device is activated by using a dedicated rescue activation card possessed by a clerk or the like. Although the abuse by the customer is prevented, the operation may be performed by a key-type switch, various wireless remote controllers, or a key code input operation using a key instead of such a card. [0037] As described in the foregoing, the card processing apparatus of the present invention, when rewriting been reduced the balance of the inserted prepaid card, the amount of money Ji reduced from before rewriting balance or a balance, Recorded on this card as transaction history information, and the pre-inserted
Paid card balance is insufficient
When information is rewritten to zero, the prescribed remedy for that card
A predetermined value different from the initial value is recorded in the flag area, and for a prepaid card inserted after a predetermined rescue activation operation is performed , the predetermined value is stored in the rescue flag area of the card.
It is determined whether or not the value is recorded, and the predetermined value is recorded.
If it is determined that the balance has been recorded, the balance recorded on the card is rewritten to the balance before the previous transaction based on the transaction history information recorded on the card , the transaction history information is rewritten to zero , and the rescue flag Return the value of the area to the initial value
Are you so. [0038] For this reason, the prepaid card the card balance is had been rewritten to zero at the lack of balance, can be returned to the balance of the previous transactions by the request of the customer, cash to the customer from the installation's side of the card processing device No need to repay.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a card processing apparatus according to one embodiment. FIG. 2 is an internal configuration diagram of the card processing apparatus according to one embodiment. FIG. 3 is a card processing apparatus according to one embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a prepaid card used in the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a rescue activation card used in the card processing device of one embodiment. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a control unit of the embodiment. Diagram showing information recorded on the card with insufficient balance and information after the balance is relieved. [Description of References] 20 Card processing device 22 Card insertion slot 31 Card transport mechanism 32 Read / write circuit 33 Printer 34 Control unit 40 Prepaid card 50 Rescue activation card

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06K 17/00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. The information of the balance of a prepaid card to be inserted
Read and subtracted the transaction amount or part of it from the balance
A card processing device for rewriting the balance information of the card based on the result.
In place When rewriting the balance information of the prepaid card,
The previous balance or the amount deducted from the balance is taken out of the card
Transaction information recorded in a predetermined transaction history area as transaction history information
Report writing means,Prepaid car inserted for the amount to be reduced
Card is running low and the card's balance information is written to zero.
When the card is replaced, the card is
Rescue flag writing means for recording a predetermined value different from the term value; Prepay inserted after predetermined rescue activation operation is performed
CardThe predetermined value is recorded in the rescue flag area of
Determining means for determining whether or not The predetermined value is written in the rescue flag area by the determination means.
Prepaid card determined to be recorded For
The balance information recorded on the card is
Based on the transaction history information recorded in the history area.
Rewrite the balance information of the card before the last transactione,Transaction of the card
Rewrite history information to zeroAnd the relief flag area
Reset value to initial valueCharacterized by having a balance rescue means
Card processing equipment.