JP4146181B2 - Portable storage medium issuing system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention issues an IC card for each individual by, for example, writing the individual issuance data to the IC memory of an unissued IC card (portable storage medium) containing at least an IC memory. The present invention relates to a portable storage medium issuing system such as an IC card issuing system.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Recently, as a portable storage medium, a so-called IC card including an IC chip having a nonvolatile data memory and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) for controlling the nonvolatile data memory has been used in various industries.
This type of IC card is normally issued using an IC card issuing system installed in a card issuing company or the like. In such an IC card issuance system, each person's issuance data to be written to the memory of the IC card is issued for each IC card to be issued within a host computer as a host device that manages the issuance data. The IC card is issued by being created correspondingly and transferred to the memory unit of the reader / writer device in the IC card issuing device.
[0003]
In such an IC card issuance system, if an issuance error occurs during card issuance, the issuance operation is continued regardless of the number of issuance errors, or the upper limit of the number of issuance errors is fixedly determined. In general, the card issuing operation is stopped when the upper limit is reached.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the above-described conventional IC card issuance system has a problem that the efficiency of the issuance work is deteriorated when an issuance error occurs frequently, and the IC card is wasted.
In addition, the upper limit of the number of issued errors is fixed, and the upper limit cannot be easily changed in consideration of the type of IC card to be issued and the expected number of issued errors. There is a problem of getting worse.
[0005]
Therefore, the present invention can easily change the upper limit value of the number of issued errors depending on the type of portable storage medium to be issued and the expected number of issued errors, and can improve the efficiency of issuing work. The purpose is to provide a system.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The portable storage medium issuing system of the present invention is a portable storage medium that issues a portable storage medium for each individual by writing each person's issue data to the memory of the portable storage medium having at least a memory. In the issuance system, if an issuance error has occurred when writing individual issuance data to the memory of the portable storage medium and setting means for setting an arbitrary upper limit of the number of issuance errors, the issuance error Is an error that occurred during writing of the issued data, or an error that occurred when the portable storage medium was activated prior to writing of the issued data, or other than these errors in the portable storage medium discriminating means for discriminating whether the issuing errors not related, not related to the portable storage medium by the determination means issuing gill A first control means for stopping the issuance operation of the portable storage medium at the time when it is determined that the, issued error or the portable storage medium that have occurred during writing issuance data by said discrimination means Counting means for counting up the number of issuance errors when it is determined that an issuance error has occurred at the time of activation, and a portable storage medium when the count value of the counting means reaches the value set by the setting means And a second control means for stopping the issuing operation.
[0008]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 schematically shows a configuration of an IC card issuing system according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, a host computer 1 as a host device executes a series of processes related to IC card issuance including control of peripheral devices, and has a built-in memory 2 for temporarily storing various data. An auxiliary storage device 3, a display device 4, a keyboard 5 and a printer 6 are connected to each other.
[0009]
The auxiliary storage device 3 is composed of, for example, a hard disk device or the like, and issuance to be written to the IC card in addition to the issuance system program 31 for controlling the entire system, the environment setting file 32, and the data of the issuance system itself. An issuance data file 33 composed of a large number of records holding data is stored (stored).
[0010]
The display device 4 displays an IC card issuance procedure display and device status display under the control of the host computer 1.
The keyboard 5 is used in response to an instruction displayed on the display device 4 so that an operator performs an input operation and gives necessary data to the host computer 1.
The printer 6 prints out the issuance date and time, the name of the issuance data file, the personal ID number, the total issuance number, the normal / abnormal issuance number, etc. in order to leave the issuance record of the IC card.
[0011]
An IC card (hereinafter referred to as an unissued IC card) P1 as an unissued portable storage medium to be issued is set in the host computer 1, and issued data is stored in the memory of the set unissued IC card P1. Is connected to a card issuing device 7 as card issuing means for issuing an IC card.
[0012]
The unissued IC card P1 incorporates an IC chip M1 including a semiconductor memory (IC memory) such as an EEPROM for storing data and a CPU for controlling the semiconductor memory, and a magnetic stripe M2 as a magnetic recording unit is provided on the surface. Is provided.
[0013]
The card issuing device 7 sets, for example, one (or more) magnetic reader / writer device 20, a plurality (or one) IC reader / writer device 21, and a plurality of unissued IC cards P1. Input unit 22, stack unit 23 for storing a plurality of issued IC cards (hereinafter referred to as “issued IC card”) P 2, reject for storing a plurality of IC cards resulting in an issue error And a transport unit 25 for transporting the IC card from the input unit 22 to the magnetic reader / writer device 20, the IC reader / writer device 21, the stack unit 23, or the reject unit 24.
[0014]
The magnetic reader / writer device 20 reads magnetic data recorded on the magnetic stripe M2 of the unissued IC card P1 and sends it to the host computer 1, or receives magnetic data from the host computer 1 and receives the magnetic stripe of the unissued IC card P1. Has a function to write to M2.
[0015]
The IC reader / writer device 21 reads data stored in the memory in the IC chip M1 of the unissued IC card P1 (hereinafter also referred to as IC data) and sends it to the host computer 1 or the IC from the host computer 1 It has a function of receiving data and writing it to the unissued IC card P1.
[0016]
FIG. 2 shows a configuration of the issue data file 33 stored (stored) in the auxiliary storage device 3. The issued data file 33 is stored in an issued data file name recording unit 11 in which the name of the issued data file 33 is recorded, a personal ID recording unit 12 in which an ID number as personal identification information is recorded, and an unissued IC card P1. The issuance data recording unit 13 is configured to record each issuance data to be written. In this example, IC data and magnetic data are stored as the issuance data recorded in the issuance data recording unit 13, and in the figure, the mth issue data of the nth individual is represented as “data nm”.
[0017]
Next, in such a configuration, an IC card issuing process operation will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.
When the power of the IC card issuing system is turned on, an issuing system program 31 for controlling the entire system stored in the auxiliary storage device 3 is expanded on the memory 2 of the host computer 1 and then the host computer. The control of 1 is transferred to this program, and the processing by this system is started.
[0018]
First, in step S <b> 1, the operator can change or confirm the display of the environment setting of the issuing system program 31 stored in the auxiliary storage device 3. When changing the environment setting, for example, the operator opens a setting screen as shown in FIG. 4 on the screen of the display device 4 by performing a specific operation using the keyboard 5, for example. Do.
[0019]
The issuing system program 31 reads the environment setting file 32 stored in the auxiliary storage device 3 and recognizes the environment setting information of the issuing system. In the environment setting file 32, for example, information shown in FIG. 4, that is, an upper limit value (0 indicates no upper limit) for each of the IC reader / writer device 21 and the magnetic reader / writer device 20 of the number of issued errors, Information indicating whether the issued error number is a cumulative error number or a continuous error number is stored.
[0020]
This environment setting file 32 can be arbitrarily changed by the operator whenever the issuing system program 31 is not performing the card issuing process. When there is no need to change the setting, the operator does not need to perform a setting operation from the setting screen.
[0021]
Next, in step S2, the operator executes input of issuance information such as the name of the issuance data file storing the issuance data of the IC card to be issued from the keyboard 5. These data are expanded in the memory 2 in the host computer 1 and can be referred to as necessary.
[0022]
Next, in step S3, it is searched whether or not the issue data file corresponding to the issue data file name specified in step S2 exists in the issue data file 33 in the auxiliary storage device 3. Here, if the corresponding issuance data file does not exist in the issuance data file 33, an error process (step S4) is executed such as displaying an error message on the display device 4 and interrupting or stopping the issuance processing of the IC card. To do.
[0023]
On the other hand, if the corresponding issuance data file exists in the issuance data file 33, the process proceeds to step S5, and all the personal ID numbers stored in the personal ID recording unit 12 in the issuance data file specified in step S2 are displayed on the display device 4. Is displayed. Here, the operator uses the keyboard 5 or a mouse (not shown) to select a personal ID number to be issued. In the selection of the personal ID number, one or a plurality of personal ID numbers can be selected and specified at random from all the personal ID numbers displayed on the display device 4.
[0024]
When the selection of the personal ID number by the operator is completed and the issuance start instruction is given from the keyboard 5 by the operator, the reject counter as the counting means provided in the memory 2 in the host computer 1 is cleared in step S6, Proceed to step S7. Here, the reject counter is provided with a reject counter for the IC reader / writer device 21 and a reject counter for the magnetic reader / writer device 20, respectively.
[0025]
In step S7, it is displayed to the operator that the issuing process has been started via the display device 4, and the process proceeds to step S8. In step S <b> 8, the transport unit 25 is operated to transport the unissued IC card P <b> 1 set in advance by the operator from the input unit 22 to the IC reader / writer device 21.
[0026]
Next, in step S9, a process of writing issued data corresponding to the personal ID number to the unissued IC card P1 via the IC reader / writer device 21 is executed. For example, for the first person's personal ID number, data 1-1 to data 1-m are sequentially written to the memory in the IC chip M1 of the unissued IC card P1.
[0027]
Next, in step S10, it is checked whether or not an issue error has occurred in the writing process in step S9. If no issue error has occurred, the process proceeds to step S11. In step S11, the reject counter is cleared only when the environment setting information is set such that the upper limit value of issue errors is the number of consecutive errors.
[0028]
Next, in step S12, the unissued IC card P1 in which the issued data is written becomes the issued IC card P2, and is taken out from the IC reader / writer device 21 by the transport unit 25 and transported to the stack unit 23. Proceed to S13. In step S13, it is checked whether or not the issuance data of all the personal ID numbers specified in step S5 has been written. If not, the process proceeds to step S14, and the next personal ID number is made current. Return to S7.
[0029]
The above processing is repeated for the number of designated personal ID numbers until the IC card issuance is completed.
[0030]
If the issued data includes not only the IC data but also the magnetic data, the unissued IC card P1 is transported to the magnetic reader / writer device 20 after the processing related to the IC data in steps S8 to S11, and thereafter from step S9. Processing similar to S11 (including issuance error processing) is also performed on the magnetic stripe data, and after step S11, the process proceeds to step S12.
[0031]
In this way, when the IC card issuance processing is completed for the designated number of personal ID numbers, the process proceeds to step S15. In step S15, as the issue record table, the issue date, the name of the issue data file, the issued personal ID number, the total issue number, the normal issue / abnormal issue number, and the like are output by the printer 6, and a series of ICs are output. The card issuing process is terminated.
[0032]
If an issue error has occurred in step S10, the process proceeds to step S16. In step S16, the unissued IC card P1 that has issued an error is conveyed to the reject unit 24, and the process proceeds to step S17. In step S17, it is determined whether or not the issued error is related to the IC card. The determination that the IC card is an issuance error related (caused) to the IC card is made, for example, when the IC reader / writer device 21 writes the issued data to the unissued IC card P1 from the IC reader / writer device 21 to the host computer 1. This is performed when it is notified that an error has occurred or when an error has occurred when activating an unissued IC card P1.
[0033]
If it is determined in step S17 that the issued issuance error is not related to the IC card, the process proceeds to step S18. In step S18, an error process is executed, and then the card issuance process is terminated.
If it is determined in step S17 that the issued issuance error is related to the IC card, the process proceeds to step S19. In step S19, error processing is executed, and the process proceeds to step S20. In step S20, the reject counter is incremented by "+1" and the process proceeds to step S21. In step S21, the count value of the reject counter is compared with the issuance error upper limit value of the environment setting information. If the count value of the reject counter exceeds the upper limit value, the card issuance process is terminated. Proceeding to step S13, issuing processing for the next personal ID number is performed.
[0034]
In the above example, the reject counter and the issuance error upper limit value are individually managed for the IC reader / writer device 21 and the magnetic reader / writer device 20, but one type of the reject counter and the issuance error upper limit value is not distinguished from each other. It is also possible to manage with.
[0035]
As described above, according to the above embodiment, since the upper limit value of the number of issued errors can be easily changed according to the type of IC card to be issued and the expected number of issued errors, The efficiency of the card can be remarkably improved, and the waste of the IC card can be reduced.
[0036]
In the above-described embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the issue of the IC card itself has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a plurality of ICs called COTs arranged in a reel tape shape are used. The same applies to issuance of modules (IC chips incorporated in IC cards). Further, the portable storage medium to be applied is not limited to a card-like one, and may be, for example, a tag-like or pen-like one.
[0037]
In the above embodiment, for the sake of simplicity, only the case of having one magnetic reader / writer device and a plurality of IC reader / writer devices in the IC card issuing system is illustrated, but the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can be applied to an IC card issuing system having at least one magnetic reader / writer device and IC reader / writer device. Further, the IC reader / writer device 21 is applicable not only to the automatic conveyance type but also to the manual feed type.
[0038]
In the above-described embodiment, the magnetic reader / writer device and the IC reader / writer device have been described with respect to writing of magnetic data and IC data. However, for example, the magnetic reader / writer device and the IC reader / writer device can be replaced with devices for embossing, text, and image printing. The present invention can also be applied to an IC card issuing system in which one or more of these devices are combined.
[0039]
Thus, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
[0040]
【The invention's effect】
As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the upper limit value of the number of issue errors can be easily changed according to the type of portable storage medium to be issued and the expected number of issue errors, thereby improving the efficiency of the issue operation. A portable storage medium issuing system that can be provided can be provided.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of an IC card issuing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of an issue data file stored in an auxiliary storage device.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining an IC card issue processing operation;
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an environment setting screen displayed on the display device.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Host computer (host device), 2 ... Memory, 3 ... Auxiliary storage device, 4 ... Display device, 5 ... Keyboard 5, 6 ... Printer, 7 ... Card issuing apparatus (card issuing means), 31 ... Issuing system program, 32 ... Environment setting file, 33 ... Issued data file, P1 ... Unissued IC card (portable storage medium), P2 ... Issued IC card, M1 ... IC chip (IC memory, CPU), M2 ... Magnetic stripe (magnetic recording) Part), 20 ... magnetic reader / writer device, 21 ... IC reader / writer device, 22 ... input part, 23 ... stack part, 24 ... reject part, 25 ... transport part.

Claims (1)

In a portable storage medium issuing system for issuing a portable storage medium for each individual by writing issued data of each individual to the memory of the portable storage medium having at least a memory,
A setting means for setting an upper limit of the number of issuance errors in advance;
If an issuance error occurs when writing the individual issuance data to the memory of the portable storage medium, the issuance error is performed prior to the error occurring during the issuance data writing or the issuance data writing. Determining means for determining whether the error occurred at the time of activation of the portable storage medium to be issued or an issue error not related to the portable storage medium other than these errors ;
A first control means for stopping the issuing operation of the portable storage medium at that time when it is determined by the determination means that the issuance error is not related to the portable storage medium;
Counting means for counting up the number of issued errors when it is determined by the determining means that an issuance error occurred during writing of the issuance data or an issuance error that occurred during activation of the portable storage medium ;
Second control means for stopping the issuing operation of the portable storage medium when the count value of the counting means reaches the value set by the setting means;
A portable storage medium issuing system comprising:

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