JP4527971B2 - Card reader - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a card reader having a contact-type scanner that transports a card by a card transport unit and reads an image image of the card. More specifically, the present invention relates to a mechanism for increasing the focus accuracy of a contact scanner.

  Image capture sensors of card image reader units include a reduction optical type and a contact type. The close contact type is smaller, and is cheaper because it is also used in copiers and other scanners.

  In such a contact type scanner, in order to improve the focusing accuracy with respect to the card, as shown in FIG. 10, a best focus surface 102 is provided in the immediate vicinity of the glass surface 101 of the contact type scanner 100, for example, about 0.15 mm away. Yes. In general, the focus range of a lens used in a contact scanner is narrow. For this reason, when the card 103 is read by the contact scanner 100, it is desirable to carry the card 103 as close to the glass surface 101 as possible, and carry the card 103 so that it contacts the glass surface 101 of the scanner 100. . That is, the traveling surface and the reading surface are the same.

  Here, the embossed card 103 has an emboss 103a protruding from the card surface. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 10, if the card 103 is too close to the contact scanner 100 and the emboss 103a contacts the glass surface 101 of the contact scanner 100, the embossed card is made of PVC or the like and is hard. There is a risk of damaging both.

  In order to solve this problem, as shown in FIG. 11, a structure has been proposed in which ribs 104 protruding toward the card conveyance path are provided on the upstream side and the downstream side of the glass surface 101. The rib 104 is in a position for pressing a portion other than the emboss 103a of the embossed card 103, and is formed slightly higher than the height of the emboss 103a. For example, as shown in FIG. 13, by setting the height of the rib 104 to 0.6 mm when the height of the emboss 103a is 0.48 mm, the emboss stop substantially coincides with the best focus plane 102. In the figure, reference numeral 105 indicates the MTF value of the scanner with respect to the distance from the glass surface 101.

  The card 103 passes through and is read while contacting the rib 104. According to this, even when the embossed card 103 is read, the emboss 103a does not hit the glass surface 101 and the contact scanner 100 can be focused on the emboss stop.

JP 2002-342723 A

  However, in the card reader 100 described above, the card 103 is separated from the best focus surface 102 by the rib 104 and the card 103 passes through while contacting the rib 104, so that the flat surface without the emboss 103a as shown in FIG. When the correct card 103 'is read, the surface of the card 103' moves away from the best focus surface 102, and the focus accuracy is lowered.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 13, the flat card 103 ′ travels away from the glass surface 101 by the height of the rib 104 (here, about 0.6 mm), so that the focus accuracy is high as can be seen from the MTF curve 105. Compared to the best focus, it will be greatly reduced. In addition, even with the card 103 having the emboss 103a, the focus accuracy is lowered when reading a portion other than the embossed portion.

  In order to solve this, it is conceivable to use a lens having a wide focus range. However, since such a lens is expensive, it is difficult to use it for an inexpensive product suitable for mass production.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a card reader that can improve the focusing accuracy even with a card without an emboss while preventing the emboss from coming into contact with the glass surface of a contact scanner.

In order to achieve such an object, the invention described in claim 1 includes a card transporting means for transporting a hard card with embossing or a card without embossing softer than the card with embossing, a card transporting path through which the card is transported, A card reader provided with a contact-type scanner that faces the card conveyance path and reads an image image of a card, and that is formed on the contact-type scanner and presses a portion other than an embossed portion of an embossed card. And a biasing member that is arranged at a position facing the rib across the card conveyance path and presses the card with emboss or the card without emboss to the contact scanner side, and the best focus surface of the contact scanner Between the embossed part of the card with emboss and the part other than the embossed part To position, the embossed portion of the embossed card MTF value of the contact type scanner is positioned on the glass plate side of the scanner from the position where the peak, the best focus biasing force of the biasing member to deform the embossed without card In order to be positioned in the vicinity of the surface, the strength is set near the position where the MTF value reaches a peak .

Therefore, when the object to be read is a hard card with an emboss, it is hardly deformed even if it is pressed by the urging member. Therefore, the best focus surface of the close contact type scanner between the embossed part and a part other than the embossed part. Is located, that is, the embossed portion of the card with embossing is located closer to the glass plate side of the scanner than the position at which the MTF value of the contact scanner reaches a peak (so-called best focus surface), so that the emboss stop is at or near the best focus surface Can be read. When the reading target is a soft card such as a driver's license, the card is read in the vicinity of the best focus surface due to the deformation caused by the pressing of the urging member to the contact type scanner side.

  Further, the invention described in claim 2 is the card reader according to claim 1, wherein the urging member is a roller. Therefore, it can be pressed while the card is running smoothly.

As described above, according to the card reader of the first aspect, the urging member presses the card against the close-contact scanner side. Therefore, when the reading target is a soft card such as a license, the close contact by the urging member. The card can travel on the best focus surface of the contact scanner by deformation caused by the pressing to the mold scanner side, and the card is read in the vicinity of the best focus surface. Thereby, even if it is a soft card | curd without an embossing, the focus precision of reading can be improved. In particular, when reading a relatively soft card such as a driver's license or a paper card, the card can be easily bent by the urging member , so that the focus accuracy can be improved.

In addition, when the object to be read is an embossed card formed of a hard vinyl chloride or the like, the embossed card is hardly deformed even when pressed by the urging member. The best focus surface of the contact scanner is positioned between the embossed portion and the portion other than the embossed portion, that is, the embossed portion of the card with the emboss is the contact scanner. By positioning the MTF value closer to the glass plate side of the scanner than the position where the MTF value becomes the peak , the emboss stop can be read in the vicinity of the best focus surface (close position). Therefore, since it can read in the position close | similar to a best-focus surface even if it is any of the hard card | curd with embossing and a soft card | curd without embossing, high reading accuracy can be obtained.

  Furthermore, according to the card reader of the second aspect, since the card can be pressed while running smoothly, damage to the card can be prevented.

  Hereinafter, the configuration of the present invention will be described in detail based on the best mode shown in the drawings.

  FIGS. 1-9 shows an example of embodiment of the card reader 39 of this invention. The card reader 39 is provided with a card conveying means 3 for conveying the card 4, a card conveying path 2 for conveying the card 4, and a contact type which is provided facing the card conveying path 2 and reads an image image of the card 4. And a scanner 5. As shown in FIG. 1, the card reader 39 is formed in the contact scanner 5 and has an upstream side rib 22 and a downstream side rib 22 that presses a portion other than the emboss 4 a portion of the card 4, and the card transport path 2. An urging member 40 is provided between the ribs 22 so as to sandwich the card 4 and presses the card 4 against the contact scanner 5 side.

  A roller is used as the urging member 40. Further, the best focus surface F of the contact scanner 5 is positioned between the embossed portion of the card 4 and a portion other than the embossed portion. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the best focus surface F is provided at a position 0.45 mm away from the glass plate 41. In the figure, reference numeral 43 indicates the MTF value of the scanner with respect to the distance from the glass surface 101. Therefore, the focus range is 0.4 to 0.7 mm from the glass plate 41.

  The rib 22 is provided slightly higher than the height of the emboss 4a. Here, the height of the rib 22 is 0.6 to 0.7 mm. This is a numerical value set slightly higher than the standard value 0.48 mm of the maximum height of the emboss 4a. Thereby, when the reading target is the card 4 having the emboss 4a, both the embossed portion and the portion other than the embossed portion can be read within the focus range. Of course, if the standard value changes, it is desirable to change the height of the rib 22 to a value slightly larger than that. The rib 22 is integrally formed with the holder 16 that holds the contact scanner 5.

  The urging member 40 is provided at a position facing the scanning position of the contact scanner 5. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 1B, it is possible to further increase the focus accuracy when the unembossed card 4 is deformed. As shown in FIG. 4, the urging member 40 presses the card 4 by urging means 42 made of a spring member. This biasing force does not deform the embossed PVC card as shown in FIG. 1 (A), and also deforms a soft card such as a driver's license as shown in FIG. 1 (B) and FIG. The strength is set in the vicinity of F.

  Here, an embodiment in which the above-described card reader 39 is applied to an IC card reader will be described below. The IC card reader 39 (hereinafter simply referred to as a card reader 39) not only reads and writes information from and to a card (hereinafter simply referred to as a card) 4 having a non-contact IC, but also has an image scanning function such as a driver's license. It is also supposed to have.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the card reader 39 includes a card transport means 3 for transporting the card 4, a card transport path 2 for transporting the card 4, and a communication antenna (non-contact IC) for exchanging signals with the card 4. Antenna) 10. The card reader 39 is disposed at a position facing the communication antenna 10 across the card conveyance path 2, and includes a resin-molded holder 16, a rib 22 formed on the holder 16, and the rib 22. And a pressurizing mechanism 6 for holding the card 4 therebetween. Further, the communication antenna 10 is disposed at a position facing the card 4 conveyed through the card conveyance path 2, and a member defining the card conveyance path 2 in the vicinity where the communication antenna 10 is disposed is resin-molded. At the same time, a contact type scanner 5 for reading the emboss 4a formed on the card 4 being conveyed is attached to the holder 16 using pressing plates 19 and 20.

  The card reader 39 has an opening / closing mechanism 7 that can move the holder 16 in the direction of approaching / separating from the card transport path 2. The scanner 5 reads the embossed 4a characters formed on the surface of the card 4 and the surface pattern of the card 4 or a driver's license.

  The card reader 39 is configured to read / write data between a contact type IC contact block 8 that reads / writes data by contacting an IC contact provided on the card 4 and a magnetic stripe provided on the card 4. In addition to the magnetic head 9 that performs writing, the antenna 10 has a communication antenna 10 that performs communication with an antenna provided on the card 4 and performs read / write of data without contact. The communication antenna 10, the close contact type scanner 5, and the pressurizing mechanism 6 are disposed in the image reading unit 12 on the back side of the magnetic processing / contact processing unit 11 of the card reader 39.

  As shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, the opening / closing mechanism 7 includes a swing frame 15 that is swingably attached to the frame 13 of the card reader 39 by a shaft 14, a holder 16 that is fixed to the swing frame 15, Locking means 18 for locking the holder 16 to the fixed frame 17 is provided. The contact scanner 5 is fixed to the holder 16 by left and right pressing plates 19 and 20. Further, the front and rear portions of the contact scanner 5 of the holder 16 are walls 21 (hereinafter referred to as “upper side walls of the transport path”) that define the upper side of the card transport path 2. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the holder 16 is resin-molded, and the front and rear conveyance path upper side walls 21 are also resin-molded. The ribs 22 are integrally formed on the front and rear conveyance path upper side walls 21, and the rib 22 is slid to a position avoiding the embossed 4a character formed on the card 4, that is, to a portion other than the embossed 4a portion. 4 and the contact scanner 5 are set to a predetermined length. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, a total of six ribs 22 are formed at the left and right ends and the center of the front and rear transport path upper side walls 21. Further, biasing members 40 are provided between the front and rear ribs 22, respectively.

  The locking means 18 includes a knob 23, a shaft 24 fixed to the knob 23, and a locking pin 25 that penetrates the shaft 24 in the radial direction. The shaft 24 passes through a hole 26 provided in the holder 16 and is prevented from falling off by a stop pin 25. On the lower surface of the peripheral portion of the hole 26 of the holder 16, as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 9 shows the fixed frame 17. The fixed frame 17 is fixed to the frame 13 of the card reader 39 and constitutes a wall that defines the upper side of the card transport path 2. As shown in FIG. 4, a hole 28 is provided at a position facing the locking means 18 of the fixed frame 17. A locking plate 29 is attached to the upper surface of the fixed frame 17 so as to cover the hole 28, and the tip of the shaft 24 and the locking pin 25 pass at a position facing the hole 28 of the locking plate 29. Possible slits 30 are provided. Therefore, by rotating the shaft 24 and adjusting the position of the stop pin 25 to the shape of the slit 30, the tip of the shaft 24 can be inserted into the hole 28 or pulled out from the hole 28. Further, by rotating the shaft 24 and shifting the position of the stop pin 25 from the slit 30, the tip of the shaft 24 inserted into the hole 28 can be prevented from coming out of the hole 28.

  The pressurizing mechanism 6 is, for example, a coil spring disposed around the shaft 24 of the locking means 18. The pressurizing mechanism 6 is provided in a compressed state between the knob 23 and the holder 16, and presses the holder 16 toward the card transport path 2, that is, toward the direction in which the opening / closing mechanism 7 opens and closes. The pressurizing mechanism 6 expands and contracts according to the thickness and shape of the card 4 handled by the card reader 39 (such as the presence or absence of bending).

  In the image reading unit 12, the lower side of the card transport path 2 is defined by a resin transport path lower side wall 31. Further, an urging member 40, an urging means 42, and the communication antenna 10 are disposed below the conveyance path lower side wall 31. The conveyance path lower side wall 31, the holder 16, and the fixed frame 17 are made of resin, and the members that define the card conveyance path 2 in the vicinity where the communication antenna 10 is disposed are resin molded products. Further, no metal parts are arranged in the vicinity of the communication antenna 10. The communication antenna 10 exchanges data without contact with an antenna provided on the card 4. The card 4 is also provided with a contact type IC contact. The card 4 is also provided with a magnetic stripe.

  When the pre-head 33 detects the card 4 inserted into the card insertion slot 32 of the card reader 39, the drive motor 1 rotates to drive the card transport means 3. The card transport unit 3 includes, for example, four transport roller pairs 34 to 37. The rotation of the drive motor 1 is transmitted to the gear 38 and further to the conveyance roller pair 34. The rotation of the transport roller pair 34 is transmitted to the two transport roller pairs 35 and 36, and the rotation of the transport roller pair 35 is transmitted to the transport roller pair 37.

  When the card 4 taken into the card reader 39 by the card conveying means 3 is conveyed to the image reading unit 12 and passes below the contact scanner 5, the image on the surface of the card 4 is read by the contact scanner 5.

  Since the contact scanner 5 attached to the holder 16 is pressurized toward the card transport path 2 by the pressurization mechanism 6, the rib 22 contacts the surface of the card 4, and the card 4 and the contact scanner 5 The interval is kept constant. Even if the card 4 is curved, the curving of the card 4 is corrected by the pressure applied by the pressurizing mechanism 6, or the coil spring that is the pressurizing mechanism 6 contracts even when the curving cannot be completely corrected. As a result, the contact-type scanner 5 retreats according to the curvature of the card 4, so that the distance between the card 4 and the contact-type scanner 5 is always kept constant. For these reasons, the reading quality of the contact scanner 5 can be improved. Further, since the contact scanner 5 is retracted in accordance with the curvature of the card 4, no jamming occurs during the conveyance even if the card 4 is curved.

  At this time, when the card 4 is an embossed card, even if the card 4 is pressed by the urging member 40 as shown in FIG. For this reason, the top of the emboss 4a can be positioned on the best focus plane F and read. When the card 4 is a soft card without embossing like a driver's license, it is deformed by pressing by the urging member 40 as shown in FIG. For this reason, the card 4 itself can be read by being positioned on the best focus plane F. Therefore, it is possible to read the best focus plane F with either a hard card with embossing or a soft card without embossing.

  In addition, a communication antenna 10 is disposed below the close contact type scanner 5 across the card transport path 2, and the close contact type scanner 5 captures an image on the surface of the card 4 and does not contact the IC chip of the card 4. Data is read and written by contact. Since the card 4 is pressurized by the pressurizing mechanism 6, the distance between the card 4 and the communication antenna 10 is kept constant, the read / write communication reliability is improved, and the read / write quality is improved. Can do.

  For maintenance of the contact scanner 5, the locking means 18 may be removed from the fixed frame 17 and the opening / closing mechanism 7 may be opened. By rotating the knob 23 of the locking means 18 so that the position of the locking pin 25 matches the shape of the slit 30 of the locking plate 29, the tip of the shaft 24 can be pulled out from the hole 28 of the fixed frame 17. By pulling out the tip of the shaft 24 and lifting the holder 16 and the swing frame 15 around the shaft 14, the opening / closing mechanism 7 is opened, and the reading surface of the contact scanner 5 can be directed upward to facilitate maintenance. When the tip of the shaft 24 is pulled out from the hole 28 of the fixed frame 17, the pressing force of the pressurizing mechanism 6 tries to pull out the shaft 24 from the hole 26, but the stop pin 25 enters the recess 27 provided in the holder 16. It is caught and the shaft 24 is prevented from falling off.

  After maintenance of the contact scanner 5, the opening / closing mechanism 7 is closed. The holder 16 and the swing frame 15 are lowered around the shaft 14 and locked to the fixed frame 17 by the locking means 18. The tip of the shaft 24 can be inserted into the hole 28 of the fixed frame 17 by matching the position of the locking pin 25 of the locking means 18 with the shape of the slit 30. Then, by rotating the knob 23 and shifting the position of the stop pin 25 from the slit 30, the tip of the shaft 24 does not come out of the hole 28 of the fixed frame 17, and the holder 16 and the swing frame 15 are fixed by the locking means 18. Locked to the frame 17.

  The above-described embodiment is an example of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but is not limited thereto, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, in the present embodiment, the rib 22 is formed on the holder 16 of the contact scanner 5, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the rib 22 may be formed on the contact scanner 5 itself.

  In the present embodiment, the contact scanner 5 is fixed to the holder 16 by the pressing plates 19 and 20, but the present invention is not limited to this and may be bonded. In this case, the holding plates 19 and 20 can be omitted. Further, a spacer jig may be interposed between the attachment surface of the holder 16 and the close contact type scanner 5 for bonding. In this case, the distance between the glass surface of the contact scanner 5 and the tip of the rib 22 can be changed according to the specified value of the emboss height.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, a roller is used as the urging member 40, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a spring member such as a leaf spring may be used. The numerical values such as the height of the rib 22 and the position of the best focus surface F are not particularly limited, and can be set as appropriate according to the softness of the reading target and the strength of the biasing force of the biasing member 40. Of course.

  In the above-described embodiment, the card reader 39 is an IC card reader for the card 4, but is not limited to this, and may be a card reader for the card 4 having a magnetic stripe or other card readers. May be.

It is a side view which shows the principal part of the card reader to which this invention is applied, (A) shows the case where an embossed card is scanned, (B) shows the case where a soft card | curd without embossing is scanned, respectively. It is a side view which shows the positional relationship with the best focus surface at the time of reading a card with an emboss. It is a side view which shows the positional relationship with the best focus surface at the time of reading a soft card | curd. It is a schematic block diagram which expands and shows the image reading part of a card reader. It is a schematic side view of a card reader. It is a top view of the image reading part of a card reader. It is a figure which shows the rib provided in the holder of the card reader. It is a top view which shows the holder of a card reader. It is a top view which shows the fixed frame of a card reader. It is a side view which shows the image reading part which does not have the conventional rib. It is a side view which shows the case where the card | curd with embossing is read by the image reading part which has the conventional rib. It is a side view which shows the case where the card | curd without embossing is read by the image reading part which has the conventional rib. It is a side view which shows the positional relationship of the best focus surface and card | curd of the image reading part which has the conventional rib.

Explanation of symbols

2 Card transport path 3 Card transport means 4 Card 4a Emboss 5 Contact scanner 22 Rib 39 Card reader 40 Energizing member F Best focus surface

Claims (2)

Card transport means for transporting a hard card with emboss or a card without emboss which is softer than the card with emboss, a card transport path for transporting the card, a card transport path facing the card transport path and the card In a card reader having a contact scanner for reading an image image, an upstream rib and a downstream rib formed on the contact scanner and pressing a portion other than the embossed portion of the embossed card are sandwiched between the card transport path And an urging member that presses the embossed card or the unembossed card against the contact scanner side, and the best focus surface of the contact scanner is the embossed card. Located between the embossed part and the part other than the embossed part For, the embossed portion of the embossed card is positioned on the glass plate side of the scanner from the position where the MTF value is the peak of the contact-type scanner, the biasing force of the biasing member to deform the embossed without card The card reader is characterized in that it is positioned near the position where the MTF value becomes a peak in order to be positioned near the best focus plane . The card reader according to claim 1, wherein the biasing member is a roller.

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