JPH01149188A - Ic card reader/writer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To achieve a satisfactory electric contact by carrying an IC card with a linear motor and selectively driving a contact unit supported freely tiltably at a contact contacting position. CONSTITUTION:When a carriage 5 is placed at an illustrated position, an IC card 11 is inserted into a casing 1. Thereafter, the tip of the IC card 11 makes a limit switch 16 operate, and the IC card 11 is inserted and held with a movable part 9 and a fixed part 10 of a clamp. Next, linear motors 4a, 4b, and 6a are actuated and made to carry the carriage 5 to a card reading/writing position. Thereupon, the IC card 11 can be loaded on the bottom surface of the casing 1 by demagnetizing a solenoid 7 and dropping the movable part 9 of the clamp into a notch 2. At the same time, a contact 17 can be contacted on a contact 13 of the IC card, and a required reading/writing can be executed by exciting a solenoid 21 and tilting a contact unit 18.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to an IC card reader/writer for reading from or writing to a card incorporating an IC storage element.

<Prior Art> In a conventional IC card reader/writer, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-8372 or Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-16384, a card is moved between a pair of rollers driven by a motor. The contact unit was conveyed by being sandwiched between the cards, and the thrust of the card was used to drive the contact unit, but there was a problem in that the contact pressure could not be accurately controlled due to friction and wear. In particular, when the IC card is transported between the IC card insertion position and the IC card read/write position using a linear motor in order to prevent contamination or damage to the card due to rollers or to reduce the size of the device to one type. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that the thrust for transporting the cards is not strong enough.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> In view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the main purpose of the present invention is to solve the problem of making the IC card thinner and preventing it from contaminating the contacts of the IC card.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved IC card reader/writer that does not damage the IC card and can achieve suitable electrical contact.

Means for Solving the Problems> According to the present invention, the present invention provides a clamping means for selectively clamping an IC card, and a clamping means for selectively clamping an IC card. A carriage that is supported so as to be displaceable between the same positions, a linear motor that transports the carriage between the same positions, and a contact point of the Moeki IG card located at the IC card continuous output/write position is contacted. This is achieved by providing an IC card reader/writer characterized by having a contact unit supported so as to be tiltable, and an electromagnetic unit for selectively tilting the contact unit.

<Operation> In this way, various advantages of using a linear motor can be obtained, and at the same time, suitable electrical contact can be achieved. In particular, when the clamping means is also composed of electromagnetic means, the maximum power consumption can be suppressed by alternately exciting the electromagnetic means and the electromagnetic unit of the contactor unit.

<Embodiments> Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 to 3 show an embodiment of an IC card reader/writer based on the present invention. The fixed casing 1 has a box shape that is flat and long in the axial direction, and has an open front end and a notch 2 at its bottom. Guide rails 3a and 3b each having a C-shaped cross section are fixed to the left and right inner surfaces of the casing 1 so as to face each other with their open ends facing inward. A stator 4a14b of a linear motor made of a permanent magnet or a coil is provided on the upper and lower inner surfaces of these guide rails 3a and 3b.

The kill ridge 5 is a generally rectangular plate-like member having movers 6a, 6b of a linear motor received in the guide rails 3a, 3b on its side edges. mover 6a,
6b is made of a coil or a permanent magnet so as to correspond to the stators 4a and 4b. Therefore, the carriage 5 is appropriately conveyed in the axial direction by the movable elements 6a, 6b and the stators 4a, 4b cooperating with each other. 'Also, a solenoid 7 is fixed to the carriage 5, and the clamp movable part 9, which is rotatably supported on the carriage 5 by a pivot 8, can be selectively attracted to the solenoid 7.

This clamp movable part 9 cooperates with a clamp fixing part 10 fixed to the side of the carriage 5, and the IC
The leading end of the card 11 can be selectively held.

A contact 13 is provided at the center of the tip of the IC card 11 for accessing the IC storage element provided inside the card, and a magnetic strip 12 is provided along the front and rear directions as desired. is provided.

The carriage 5 is further provided with a limit switch 16 for detecting that the card 11 has been inserted, and a magnetic stripe 12 is provided at a suitable location on the casing 1.
A magnetic head 14 for accessing is fixed. A notch 15 cut 82 times into the carriage 5 is later removed to avoid interference between the carriage 5 and the magnetic head 14.

A contact unit 18 on the right side of the contact 17 is tiltably supported by a pivot 19 near the end of the casing 1 opposite to the end into which the IC card is inserted. An iron piece 20 is fixed to the end of the contactor unit 18 on the side opposite to the contactor 17, and is selectively attracted by a solenoid 21 fixedly arranged on the side of the casing 1, thereby making contact. The child unit 18 tilts and the IC
The contacts 17 can be brought into selective contact with the contacts 13 of the card 11. A limit switch 22 fixed to a portion of the casing 1 near the contactor unit 18 is for detecting that the IC card 11 has reached the card read/write position, as will also be described later.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. First, when the carriage 5 is in the position shown, the IC card 11 is inserted into the casing 1 from the left end in FIGS. 1 and 2. When the tip of the IC card 11 activates the limit switch 16, the solenoid 7 is energized,
The tip of the IC card 11 is a clamp movable part 9 and fixed part 1
It is held between 0 and 0. Next, linear motors 4a, 4b,
6a and 6b are actuated to transport the carriage 5 to the card read/write position shown in phantom lines in FIG.

Incidentally, when the IC card 11 is transported together with the carriage 5 in this manner, the magnetic head 14 reads from or writes to the magnetic stripe 12.

When the limit switch 22 detects that the IC card 11 has reached the card read/write position, the solenoid 7 is demagnetized and the movable part 9 of the clamp falls into the notch 2, so that the IC card 11 is moved into the casing 1.
is placed on the bottom of the At the same time, the solenoid 21 is energized and the contact unit 18 is tilted, so that the contact 17 comes into contact with the contact 13 of the IC card 11 and performs the required reading or reading.

When access to contact 13 is completed, solenoid 2
1 is demagnetized and the contact 17 is separated from the contact 13. Then, by driving the linear motor, the carriage 5 and the I
By transporting the C card 11 to the card insertion position again, the IC card 11 can be taken out.

In this embodiment, two solenoids 7.21 are used, but as described above, since both are not excited at the same time, the maximum power consumption of the device is suppressed to a low level.

<Effects of the Invention> As described above, according to the present invention, the IC card reader/writer can be made thinner, the card will not be contaminated or damaged, and moreover, the contact unit can provide a suitable electrical connection. Since contact can be achieved, its practical effect is extremely large.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an IC card reader/writer based on the present invention with the top surface of the casing cut away. FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line ■--■ in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line ■--■ in FIG. 1. 1...Casing 2...Notches 3a, 3b・
...Guide rails 4a, 4b...Linear motor stator 5...Carriage 5a, 6b...Linear motor mover 7...Solenoid 8...Pivot 9...Clamp movable part 10
... Clamp fixing part 11 ... IC card 12.
...Magnetic stripe 13...Contact 14...
-Magnetic head 15...notch 16...limit switch 17...contact 18...contact hand unit 19...pivot 20...iron piece 2
1... Solenoid 22... Limit switch lees permit applicant NHK Spring Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) a clamping means for selectively clamping an IC card; a carriage supporting the clamping means so as to be movable between an IC card insertion position and an IC card reading/writing position; a linear motor for transporting the IC card between the two positions; a contact unit tiltably supported so as to contact the contacts of the IC card at the IC card read/write position; and selectively tilting the contact unit. An IC card reader/writer comprising an electromagnetic unit for. (2) The IC card reader according to claim 1, wherein the clamping means comprises electromagnetic means, and the electromagnetic means and the electromagnetic unit of the contactor unit are alternately excited. lighter.