JP5969250B2 - IC card reader / writer - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an improvement of a reader / writer that reads and writes information from and to a non-contact type IC card, and in particular, to prevent read / write errors that are likely to occur when an IC card held by a user is brought close to the read / write surface. The present invention relates to a reader / writer equipped with an IC card holder.

An IC card as a non-contact type recording medium, that is, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is used for various applications such as a boarding card, an electronic money card, an authentication card, and the like.
In addition to ID information, the IC card stores various types of information according to the purpose of use, and information can be read by exchanging information with the reader / writer through wireless communication using electromagnetic fields or radio waves. , Writing and rewriting can be performed.
The reader / writer brings one surface of the IC card close to the card reading surface, so that the reader / writer circuit reads / writes recorded information with respect to the IC card in a non-contact manner.
By the way, Non-Patent Document 1 includes an apparatus main body having an IC card reading surface on one side, a holder attached to form a space for inserting and holding the IC card from above on the reading surface side, A configuration of a data input / output device for a memory card provided with the above is disclosed.
In a type that does not have a holder, reading errors frequently occur because the distance and positional relationship between the IC card and the reading surface, or the time in which they are close, vary depending on the user.

On the other hand, when the holder is provided on the reading surface side as in Non-Patent Document 1, it is necessary to perform an operation of once inserting the IC card into the space in the holder and taking out the IC card. The distance and positional relationship can be kept within a predetermined value, and the time required for the above operation can be ensured for a sufficient time for reading.
When an IC card is used as a boarding card or an electronic money card, it is often carried in a wallet. In order for such a user to insert an IC card into the space in the holder shown in Non-Patent Document 1, it is necessary to remove the IC card from the wallet. Are often taken out together with the IC card and put into the space. For this reason, foreign substances such as coins and receipts accumulate in the holder inner space. If a certain amount of foreign material accumulates in the inner part of the inner space of the holder, it becomes difficult to insert the IC card to the correct reading position, and the positional relationship between the IC card and the reading surface deviates from the optimal positional relationship. This will cause read errors.
Also, coins that have fallen into the inner space of the holder cannot be easily taken out, and the utilization rate of the device equipped with this reader / writer is reduced, which causes inconvenience to other users. The problem also occurs.

Design registration No. 1171259

In a reader / writer that reads / writes information from / to a non-contact type IC card, when a holder for properly positioning and holding the IC card with respect to the reading surface is arranged, such as a coin or a piece of paper inserted together with the IC card Foreign matter easily falls and accumulates in the holder, and if the accumulated foreign matter increases in volume, it becomes difficult to set the IC card newly inserted into the holder in a correct reading state, and reading errors are likely to occur. There was a problem.
The present invention relates to a reader / writer equipped with an IC card holder for preventing read / write errors that are likely to occur when an IC card held by a user is brought close to the read / write surface. It is an object of the present invention to provide an IC card reader / writer capable of preventing foreign matters such as coins and paper pieces from falling and accumulating in the space when inserted into the space and causing problems such as reading failure.

In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention provides a casing having a reader / writer circuit, a reader / writer surface provided on one surface of the casing, and casing portions on both sides of the reader / writer surface. Is fixed to the reader / writer surface to form a space for inserting an IC card between the reader / writer surface and the lower end portion at the center of the lower edge of the reader / writer surface. comprising a holder fixed to the casing portion corresponding to the said holder has an upper opening to insert the I C card from one end into between the air, the space is respectively located on both sides of the lower end of the holder Rutotomoni with two and a lower opening for communicate with the outside, the lower end portion of the holder is inclined downwardly towards the central heights portion positioned at the center, from the center heights unit to the respective lower openings And an inclined inclined surface .
The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that an inner viewing hole for communicating the space with the outside is formed in the front central portion of the holder.
The invention of claim 3 is characterized in that the planar shape of the holder is substantially arched, and the front shape of the front edge of the holder constituting the upper opening is U-shaped.

  According to the reader / writer for an IC card of the present invention, a reader / writer including an IC card holder for preventing a read / write error that is likely to occur when an IC card held by a user is brought close to the read / write surface. In this case, when the IC card is inserted into the space in the holder, it is possible to prevent foreign matters such as coins and paper pieces from dropping and accumulating in the space and causing problems such as poor reading.

(A) And (b) is the front perspective view from the upper part which shows the structure of the reader / writer for IC cards which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention, and the front perspective view from the downward direction. (A), (b), and (c) are a front view, a side view, and a rear view of the reader / writer for the IC card. (A) And (b) is the top view and bottom view of the reader / writer for the IC card. It is AA sectional drawing of Fig.2 (a). (A) And (b) is the side view which shows the state which set the IC card in space, and a front side perspective view. It is principal part structure explanatory drawing of the holder which concerns on other embodiment.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings.
FIGS. 1A and 1B are a front perspective view from above and a front perspective view from below showing the configuration of an IC card reader / writer according to an embodiment of the present invention. (B) and (c) are a front view, a side view, and a rear view of the reader / writer for the IC card, and FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b) are a plan view and a bottom view of the reader / writer for the IC card. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 2A, and FIGS. 5A and 5B are a side view and a front perspective view showing a state where the IC card is set in the space. It is.
The IC card reader / writer 1 is schematically composed of a substantially box-shaped main body 2 and a holder 20 protruding in an arch shape forward from the lower front portion of the main body.
The back surface of the main body 2 is fixed to the front surface of a money handling device 100 such as a vending machine, a money changer, a money depositing / withdrawing device, etc. by screwing or the like.
The main body 2 includes a casing 3, a reader / writer circuit 4 that is disposed inside the casing 3 and reads / writes recorded information on the IC card C in a non-contact manner, and a reader / writer surface 10 provided on the front surface of the main body. . By inserting the IC card into the space S formed between the reader / writer surface 10 and the holder 20 and bringing it close to the reader / writer surface 10, the reader / writer circuit 4 can read and write recorded information on the IC card. .

The IC card C is a non-contact type recording medium (RFID) and is used for various applications such as a boarding card, an electronic money card, an authentication card, and the like.
In addition to ID information, the IC card C stores various types of information according to applications, and exchanges information with the IC card reader / writer 1 through wireless communication using electromagnetic fields, radio waves, or the like. Thus, information can be read, written and rewritten.
Inside the casing 3 are housed a substrate 11, an IC 12 mounted on the substrate 11 for performing transmission / reception and polling control of electromagnetic waves including a reader / writer circuit, and a loop antenna 13 for mediating transmission / reception of electromagnetic waves. An electromagnetic wave is constantly transmitted from the loop antenna 13 mounted on the substrate, and the IC card antenna disposed close to the outside of the reader / writer surface 10 receives the electromagnetic wave, thereby driving the energy of the electromagnetic wave as a power source. Then, information is exchanged between the reader / writer and the IC card.
The holder 20 has both side end portions 21 and 22 fixed to the left and right casing portions of the reader / writer surface 10 and a lower end portion 25 fixed to the casing portion corresponding to the center portion of the lower end edge of the reader / writer surface. In addition, the holder main body 30 is disposed so as to face the reader / writer surface and is spaced from the reader / writer surface so as to form a space S for inserting an IC card between the reader / writer surface.

The holder main body 30 is located on both sides of the upper opening 31 into which the IC card is inserted into the space S from one end and the holder lower end 25 with the one surface of the IC card facing the reader / writer surface 10. Are formed between the casing 3 (reader / writer surface) and two lower openings 35 and 36 for communicating with the outside. For this reason, the front shape of the holder main body 30 is substantially T-shaped or substantially Y-shaped.
The lower openings 35 and 36 are means for discharging foreign matter such as coins and paper pieces that are easily inserted together with the IC card when the IC card C is inserted into the space S. Therefore, in the case of Japanese coins, the shape, size, and position of each lower opening are selected so that the largest-sized 500-yen coin can be dropped and discharged by its own weight.
An inner visual recognition hole 40 that allows the space S to communicate with the outside is formed in the front center portion of the holder body. The internal visual recognition hole 40 is for visually confirming from the front whether or not there is a piece of paper remaining in the space S inside the holder body. In this example, the internal visual recognition hole 40 has a vertically long slit shape, but may have any shape and size as long as the hole can be confirmed inside.
The planar shape of the holder 20 is substantially arched, the front shape of the front end edge 45 of the holder constituting the upper opening 31 is U-shaped, and the front end edge 45 of the upper opening 31 protrudes forward in an arc shape. , IC card can be easily inserted and removed.

  Also, since the upper end of the IC card after insertion is easy to tilt forward as shown in the figure, a sufficient space for inserting a finger is formed between the upper part of the IC card and the reader / writer surface 10. The operation at the time of taking out becomes easy. That is, by setting the maximum lateral width W1 of the curved portion of the holder front end edge 45 to be larger than the lateral width W2 of the IC card C, the space S is maintained in a state where the lower end edge central portion is in contact with the lower end portion 25 of the holder. As shown in FIG. 5B, the left and right edges of the IC card set inside contact with the curved inner peripheral edge 45a of the holder front end edge 45, so that it is easy to assume a forward tilt posture.

The procedure for inserting and reading an IC card into the space S formed by the holder having the above-described configuration and reading / writing is as follows.
The IC card C is inserted into the space S from the upper opening 31 as shown in FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b) by the user holding the other edge side with the fingertip with one edge of the IC card facing downward. By seating the lower end edge of the card on the upper surface of the lower end portion 25 of the holder, one surface of the card can be stably held by the holder while facing the reader / writer surface 10. At this time, even if the finger is removed from the IC card, reading and writing are performed while maintaining a stable posture.
In this state, the IC card is held by the holder for a predetermined time to complete reading and writing. When the reading is completed, if the IC card is held with a finger and pulled upward from the upper opening 31, all operations are completed.
When foreign matters such as coins and paper pieces fall into the space S, they are immediately discharged outside through the left and right lower openings 35 and 36. For this reason, the conventional problem that foreign matter accumulates inside the holder and the IC card cannot be inserted and set to a proper depth and reading errors are likely to occur is solved.

Further, whether or not there is a foreign object on the lower end portion 25 of the holder can be easily confirmed by looking at the inside from the internal viewing hole 40. If it is confirmed that there is a foreign object, it can be easily removed by inserting and extruding an elongated object from the lower openings 35 and 36.
As shown in FIG. 6, the lower end 25 of the holder is composed of a central high portion 25a located at the central portion and an inclined surface 25b that is curved and inclined downward from the central high portion toward each lower opening. By using a curved surface, foreign matter such as coins can always be discharged from the left and right lower openings 35 and 36 along the inclined surface 25b even if they enter the space S.
In this example, the shape of the lower end portion 25 is a curved shape as a whole. However, the shape may not be a curved shape as long as the configuration includes the central high portion 25a and the left and right inclined surfaces 25b.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Reader / writer for IC cards, 2 ... Main body, 3 ... Casing, 4 ... Reader / writer circuit, 10 ... Reader / writer surface, 11 ... Board | substrate, 12 ... IC, 13 ... Loop antenna, 20 ... Holder, 21 ... Both ends 25 ... Holder lower end, 25a ... Center height, 25b ... Inclined surface, 30 ... Holder body, 31 ... Upper opening, 35, 36 ... Lower opening, 40 ... Internal viewing hole, 45 ... Holder front edge, 45 ... front end edge, 45a ... inner periphery.

Claims (3)

A casing provided with a reader / writer circuit, a reader / writer surface provided on one surface of the casing, and both end portions are fixed to casing portions on both sides of the reader / writer surface, and facing the reader / writer surface. A holder that is spaced apart and forms a space for inserting an IC card between the reader / writer surface and a lower end portion fixed to the casing portion corresponding to a central portion of the lower end edge of the reader / writer surface. ,
The holder, Rutotomoni includes an upper opening to insert the I C card from one end into between the air and the two lower openings to pass each position to communicate with the outside the space on both sides of the lower end of the holder, The lower end of the holder has a central high portion located in the central portion, and an inclined surface inclined downward from the central high portion toward the lower openings. Card reader / writer. 2. The IC card reader / writer according to claim 1, wherein an inner visual recognition hole for communicating the space with the outside is formed in a front center portion of the holder. 3. The IC card reader according to claim 1 , wherein a planar shape of the holder is substantially arched, and a front shape of a front end edge of the holder constituting the upper opening is U-shaped. lighter.

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