JP3727935B2 - Card reader / writer - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a card reader / writer that takes in an information recording medium such as a card and performs at least one of erasing, reading, and writing of data, and particularly against warping or bending of the information recording medium such as a card. It relates to correction means.
[0002]
[Prior art]
There is an increasing demand for displaying rewritable text and image information on the card surface. In this case, it is necessary to draw and erase information on the card surface many times by the card reader / writer. As a technique that satisfies such a requirement, a card (rewrite card) having a thermoreversible material made of a substance that can be colored and decolored by heating is used. A typical technique is a rewrite card using a leuco dye.
[0003]
A leuco dye is a substance that develops a blue color when it is mixed with a developer and heated to a temperature higher than the melting point (about 170 ° C.). When rapidly cooled, the leuco dye and the developer are crystallized and mixed to maintain the color. Is done. However, when it is gradually cooled from about 120 to 140 ° C., the leuco dye and the color developer are separated and crystallized, so that the color disappears. By utilizing this property, it is possible to provide a layer in which a leuco dye and a developer are mixed on the card surface and repeatedly draw and erase characters and figures using a thermal head.
[0004]
When drawing and erasing information repeatedly on such a rewritable card, the surface to be drawn and erased of the card is heated and cooled by a thermal head arranged in the card reader / writer, and gradually warps the card, bends, etc. Deformation occurs. If the card is warped, the card may be unable to pass through the card reader / writer due to contact with components in the transport path, or writing and erasure may become unstable. In particular, in a thick card (thickness of about 0.8 mm), it is necessary to correct the warped card because the card has high rigidity.
[0005]
Conventionally, two types of methods have been reported as methods for dealing with card warpage. The first is a method disclosed in Patent Document 1 shown in FIG. 4, and a card whose deformation amount is within a specified range is corrected by a card take-in gate 414 and conveyed. On the other hand, a card whose deformation amount exceeds a specified value cannot pass through the drive roller 408 and the driven roller 407, and is sent back to the takeout port by the reverse rotation of both.
[0006]
The second is a method disclosed in Patent Document 2 shown in FIG. 3, in which the thermal head 307 and the two correction rollers 305 and 309 in the vicinity thereof move up and down together. When it is necessary to draw characters or figures on the conveyed card by the thermal head 307, the thermal head 307 and the correction rollers 305 and 309 are lowered together, and the correction rollers 305 and 309 prevent the card from being warped. The sheet is pressed and flattened, and images and characters are drawn on the surface by the thermal head 437. In this example, images and characters on the card surface are collectively erased by a separately provided erasing head 315 that moves up and down and correction rollers 313 and 317. When erasing is required, the erasing head 315, the correction roller 313, The card 317 is lowered as a whole, and when it is not necessary, the card conveyed while passing up is passed.
[0007]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-205089 [Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-143068
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, each of the above-described conventional methods relating to warping of two types of cards has the following problems. In the method disclosed in Patent Document 1, if a margin is provided for the prescribed value of the deformation amount that allows card conveyance in the card reader / writer, insertion into the card reader / writer is rejected even for cards in the vicinity of the prescribed value such as warp. In many cases, the card cannot be used, which hinders the operation of the card use system. On the other hand, if the amount of deformation that permits card conveyance is almost equal to the standard value of the specified value, cards larger than the standard value of warpage will be conveyed in the card reader / writer, and the card will be in the conveyance path while passing. The card use system becomes unusable due to contact with the other components.
[0009]
This method does not assume a card usage system in which a large number of warped cards are circulating, such as a rewrite card, and assumes that the warped card is an exception, and the amount of deformation that permits card transportation is It is assumed that there are no particular problems with the operation of the card usage system even if the regulations are tightened. Therefore, there is a problem in a card operation system in which the use of a card having a warp such as a rewrite card is general.
[0010]
On the other hand, the method disclosed in Patent Document 2 is considered to have a rewrite card in mind, and assumes a card with warpage or the like. However, the mechanism in which the unit including the thermal head, the erasing head, and the correction roller moves up and down has a complicated structure, and therefore becomes an obstacle to downsizing and cost reduction of the apparatus. In addition, when drawing and erasing images and characters are not performed, the card passes through the transport path without undergoing warp correction, but when a card with particularly large warp passes at that time. It is conceivable that the end of the card comes into contact with the head or the correction roller that has moved upward, and the card may not be able to travel in the transport path. In order to avoid this, it is necessary to increase the amount of upward movement of the unit including the head, the correction roller, and the like, which complicates and enlarges the configuration of the apparatus.
[0011]
Accordingly, the present invention provides a card reader / writer that can draw and erase a warp or bend of a rewrite card, etc., and that does not allow the card to run in the conveyance path even when drawing and erasing images and characters are not performed. It is to provide.
[0012]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to the present invention, the warping or bending of a rewrite card or the like is not corrected for the warping or the like of the card within the range that can be drawn or erased, and the amount of deformation such as the warping of the card that is incompletely drawn or erased Can correct the deformation of the card with a fixed straightening roller, and can draw and erase the card according to the amount of deformation such as card warpage. A card reader / writer that does not pass through contact with the card can be obtained.
[0013]
That is, the present invention provides at least one of a card transport path, a transport means for moving the card in the transport path, and data erasing, data reading or data writing in the card existing in the transport path. In a card reader / writer having an erasing / recording / reproducing means for performing data and a visual erasing / drawing means for erasing or drawing an image or a character using a thermoreversible material on the card, A pair of fixed rollers are provided as correction means for correcting warping or bending of the card at two or more front and rear positions, and between the fixed rollers, the card thickness is 0.2 mm or more to 0.5 mm. It is a card reader / writer characterized by having a gap with a width exceeding the following range.
[0014]
In the card reader / writer, the erasing / drawing means is a thermal head, and the card reader / writer has a movable mechanism capable of moving the thermal head toward or away from the conveyance path.
[0015]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, a card reader / writer according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0016]
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a card reader / writer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1A is a side sectional view showing an outline of the entire card conveyance path, and FIG. 1B is a partially enlarged view of a region including a correction roller and a driving roller.
[0017]
A case will be described below in which a card is inserted into the insertion slot, images and characters are erased and drawn on the surface, electronic information is rewritten, and the card is ejected from the insertion slot again. The card 101 inserted from the insertion slot provided on the left side of the figure is first sandwiched between the pressing roller 103 and the driving roller 104 that are installed facing each other. At least one of the pressing roller 103 and the driving roller 104 needs to have a soft material having elasticity on the surface so that even a card having a slight warp can be received. Thereafter, the card 101 is sent to the correction roller 105 and the driving roller 106. Each drive roller in the figure is driven by a drive unit 121 via power transmission means such as a drive belt (not shown).
[0018]
As shown in FIG. 1B, the interval t between the correction roller 105 and the driving roller 106 facing each other is larger than the thickness of the card 101. Therefore, if the card 101 has no warp or the warp amount including the card thickness. Is smaller than the interval t, the card 101 passes through the gap between the two and reaches the gap between the correction roller 109 and the driving roller 110 having the same interval.
[0019]
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the positional relationship between the conveyance path and the thermal head in the card reader / writer of FIG. 2A is a side sectional view of the vicinity of the thermal head in a state in which the thermal head is brought close to the conveyance path, and FIG. 2B is a state in which the thermal head is moved backward with respect to the conveyance path. It is a sectional side view of the vicinity of a thermal head.
[0020]
Although the thermal head 107 is installed so as to be able to appear and retract with respect to the conveyance path 102, immediately after the card 101 is inserted, it is necessary to erase old images and characters drawn on the surface of the card 101 by the erase head 115 first. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2B, it does not contact the surface of the card 101 and remains in a state of being retracted upward. The card 101 passes between the pressure roller 111 and the data recording / reproducing unit 112 and is further conveyed to the right of the conveyance path 102.
[0021]
Next, the image and characters drawn on the surface of the card 101 are erased by driving the erase head 115. The surface of the card 101 is provided with a layer of a leuco dye, which is a thermoreversible material. By heating the drawing area to about 170 ° C. or higher and then slowly cooling it, images and characters of the leuco dye layer can be displayed. Can be erased. In this case, the temperature of the entire drawing area must be raised in a short time, and the temperature rise must be controlled so that the temperature rise does not vary depending on the location, and the temperature does not rise so much that the card 101 is damaged. .
[0022]
For this purpose, a method of flattening the drawing area on the card surface and applying a certain force to the erasing head 115 and pressing it against the surface of the card 101 is preferable. As with the thermal head 107, the erasing head 115 is installed so as to be able to move in and out of the conveyance path 102. When erasing the image or characters on the surface of the card 101, the erasing head 115 protrudes downward when the card 101 reaches the position sandwiched between the two correction rollers 113 and 117 and the driving rollers 114 and 118. It is moved to a position and brought into contact with the surface of the card 101 and pushed down to heat the entire drawing area. By determining the downward pressing force when the erasing head 115 contacts the surface of the card 101 to about 1.5 kg weight, at least the drawing area on the surface of the card 101 is elastic even when the card 101 is warped. It is pressed onto the deformed platen roller 116 to become a substantially flat surface.
[0023]
If the drawing area on the surface of the card 101 is heated and then the heating is stopped while the erasing head 115 is in contact with the surface of the card 101, the surface of the card 101 can be gradually cooled. Thereafter, the erasing head 115 is moved backward and then conveyed to the right direction, and the card 101 that has reached the pressing roller 119 and the driving roller 120 reverses the conveying direction and reaches the position immediately below the erasing head 115 again. At this time, the erasing head 115 remains in a state of being retracted upward, so that it does not contact the card 101, and the card 101 is conveyed as it is and reaches between the pressing roller 111 and the data recording / reproducing unit 112. The data recording / reproducing unit 112 rewrites the electronic information recorded on the card 101. This method may be any of a magnetic method, an optical method, a contact and non-contact electrical method, and the like.
[0024]
The data recording / reproducing unit 112 may be arranged in the vertical direction. FIG. 1 exemplifies the case of rewriting electronic information by a magnetic method. However, since the recording area to be simultaneously rewritten in the card 101 is very narrow, it is not necessary to flatten the surface of the card 101 and the back surface. It is sufficient that only the rewriting area is always held in the vicinity of the data recording / reproducing unit 112 by the pressing roller 111. In the present embodiment, the image and characters in the drawing area on the card 101 are erased first, and then the recorded information is rewritten. However, the arrangement of components in the transport direction is illustrated. Including this order may be reversed.
[0025]
After the card 101 is further conveyed leftward, an image or a character is drawn on the card surface. When the card 101 reaches the position sandwiched between the two straightening rollers 105 and 109 and the driving rollers 106 and 110, the thermal head 107 moves from the retracted position to the position protruding downward as shown in FIG. Move to contact card surface and heat locally. When the leuco dye layer on the surface of the card 101 is rapidly cooled after being heated to 170 ° C. or higher, it is possible to cool it to room temperature without erasing the color of the leuco dye layer. Can be formed. At this time, as in the case of the erasing head described above, the temperature of the drawing region is raised in a short time, the uneven heating temperature does not occur depending on the location, and the temperature does not rise so much that the card 101 is not damaged. It must be controlled as follows.
[0026]
For that purpose, a method of flattening a drawing area on the surface of the card 101 and a method of pressing the thermal head 107 against the surface of the card 101 are also suitable. Since the thermal head 107 is installed so as to be able to appear and retract with respect to the conveyance path 102, the card 101 is positioned between the two correction rollers 105 and 109 and the driving rollers 106 and 110 when drawing images and characters. Is reached, the thermal head 107 is pushed down to contact the surface of the card 101, and the surface of the card 101 is heated to the shape of an image or character. If the force that pushes down the surface of the card 101 is about 1.5 kg, which is the same as that of the erasing head 115, even if the card 101 is warped, the drawing area on the surface of the card 101 is pressed onto the platen roller 108 that is elastically deformed. As a result, a substantially flat surface is obtained.
[0027]
As described above, when the card 101 is not warped or the amount of warp including the card thickness is smaller than the interval t, the inserted card 101 is smoothly transported in the transport path 102, and the card 101 Rewriting the drawing area on the surface and rewriting the recorded electronic information. On the other hand, even when the amount of warpage including the card thickness is equal to or slightly larger than the interval t, it is possible to smoothly convey the card 101 in the conveyance path 102.
[0028]
Further, at the time of insertion, at least one of the pressing roller 103 and the driving roller 104 has a soft material having elasticity on the surface, so that it is elastically deformed so as to absorb the warp of the card 101 and moves in the conveyance path 102. . When the correction roller 105 and the driving roller 106 are reached, the amount of warpage including the card thickness exceeds the distance t between the two as shown in FIG. 1B, so that the card 101 is prevented from being conveyed here. appear.
[0029]
However, in reality, the card 101 is elastically deformed by the conveying force of each driving roller, so that it can sink between the correction roller 105 and the driving roller 106 and pass between the rollers. However, when the amount of warping including the card thickness of the card 101 is much larger than the interval t, the card 101 is either at the position of the pressing roller 103 and the driving roller 104 or at the position of the correction roller 105 and the driving roller 106. Therefore, the inside of the apparatus cannot be transported.
[0030]
Here, in order to increase the ratio of the cards 101 that can be processed in a series without hindering the conveyance, the interval t between the correction roller 105 and the driving roller 106 is set to 0.2-0 than the card thickness that is a predetermined value. The range of deformation of the card 101 that can move along the transport path 102 can be expanded.
[0031]
However, in that case, when drawing and erasing images and characters on the surface of the card 101 with the thermal head 107 and the erasing head 115, the drawing area cannot be flattened unless the force to depress both heads is increased. . As a result, the wear of the surface of the head and the card 101 increases, the temperature rise of the drawing area becomes uneven, the maintenance frequency of the card reader / writer is increased, the life of the card is shortened, and the characters and images drawn are deteriorated. Cause.
[0032]
Further, if the amount of warping of the card 101 is measured for each card and the strength of the force applied when the thermal head 107 and the erasing head 115 are pushed down is changed, the wear of the surface of the card 101 is increased and the drawing region is heated. Although temperature unevenness does not occur, such a mechanism is not suitable for increasing the cost of the card reader / writer and increasing the maintenance frequency because it complicates the apparatus.
[0033]
For this reason, a card with a large warp is not processed in the card reader / writer, and only a card with a warp amount of a certain value or less can be transported, so that characters and images can be drawn repeatedly, and a simple mechanism Thus, a card reader / writer capable of stable card processing can be provided. In this case, if an upper limit is set for the amount of warp of a card that can be processed, a user who possesses such a card will be disadvantaged. However, a card with a large warp tends to cause a problem due to deterioration of the constituent material, and there is a possibility that it is inconvenient when the card is stored by the user. Such a tendency is remarkable in a thick card belonging to a standard having a thickness of about 0.8 mm. The inventors obtained an optimum value as the value of the interval t between the correction roller and the driving roller, and repeated the experiment.
[0034]
As a result, if the value of t is less than 0.2 mm, the proportion of cards that cannot be processed by the card reader / writer increases rapidly, and conversely, the card that can be processed even if the value of t is set to exceed 0.5 mm. It was confirmed that problems such as troubles in the card reader / writer device and irregularities in the drawing of characters and images increased. This tendency is particularly clear when the card thickness is 0.8 mm. A card having a thickness of 0.8 mm generally has high rigidity, and if the value of t is large, the drawing area cannot be flattened when erasing or drawing characters or images. This is a cause of uneven drawing of characters and images. It is thought that.
[0035]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, in a card reader / writer used in a card system that displays rewritable text and image information on the card surface, the distance between the correction roller and the drive roller that are a pair of fixed rollers. It is possible to provide a card reader / writer characterized by having a gap of an arbitrary value that exceeds the value of t by 0.2 to 0.5 mm beyond the thickness of the card to be used. This card reader / writer can display text and image information in a rewritable manner on the card surface without any problem even if the card has a slight warp, and rejects processing of a card with a large warp. Increases the wear of the head and card surface that occurs frequently when a new card is accepted, uneven temperature rise in the drawing area, increased maintenance frequency of the card reader / writer, shortened card life, drawn characters and images It is possible to prevent problems such as deterioration.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a card reader / writer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1A is a side sectional view of a card reader / writer, and FIG. 1B is an enlarged side sectional view of a region including a correction roller and a driving roller of the card reader / writer shown in FIG.
2 is a view showing a positional relationship between a conveyance path and a thermal head in the card reader / writer of FIG. 1; FIG. 2A is a side sectional view showing the vicinity of the thermal head in a state where the thermal head is brought close to the conveyance path. FIG. 2B is a side sectional view showing the vicinity of the thermal head in a state in which the thermal head is retracted with respect to the conveyance path.
FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing a conventional example of a card reader / writer disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-143068.
FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing a conventional example of a card reader / writer disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 4-205089.
[Explanation of symbols]
101, 302, 402 Cards 102, 301, 401 Transport paths 103, 111, 119, 303, 311, 319 Press rollers 104, 106, 110, 114, 118, 120, 304, 306, 310, 314, 318, 320, 408, 410 Driving roller 105, 109, 113, 117, 305, 309, 313, 317 Straightening roller 107, 307, 437 Thermal head 108, 116, 308, 316 Platen roller 112, 312 Data recording / reproducing unit 115, 315 Erasing head 121, 321 Drive unit 403 Card insertion slot 404 Main body panel 405 Card magnetism detection sensor 406 Card presence / absence detection sensor 407, 409 Followed roller 411 Transport motor 412 Read / write head 413 Card reader / writer main body 414 Card take-in gate t Roller spacing

Claims (2)

Card erasing path, conveying means for moving the card in the conveying path, and erasing / recording data for at least one of erasing, reading or writing data on the card existing in the conveying path In a card reader / writer having a reproducing means and a visual erasing / drawing means for erasing or drawing an image or characters by forming a thermoreversible material on the surface of the card, two places before and after the erasing / drawing means in the transport direction As described above, a pair of fixed rollers is provided as a correcting means for correcting warping or bending of the card, and a range of 0.2 mm to 0.5 mm with respect to the card thickness between the fixed rollers. A card reader / writer characterized by having a gap having a width that exceeds only the width. 2. The card reader / writer according to claim 1, wherein the erasing / drawing means is a thermal head, and has a movable mechanism for moving the thermal head toward or away from the transport path.

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