JPH02304686A - Card reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely decide a rugged display without being influenced by the ground color of a card by utilizing the intensity of reflected light based upon a difference in the planeness of the card to read out the rudded display. CONSTITUTION:A light source 3 for allowing a rugged display surface 2a to be irradiated with light at a fixed angle theta1 is arranged on the advancing position of the card 2, light projected from a rod-like light source body 4 is diffused by a diffusing plate 5 and the display surface 2a is irradiated with the diffused light. The irradiating light 6 from the light source 3 is reflected on the display surface 2a and then reflected at a fixed reflecting angle theta2. When the incident angle theta1 is equal to the reflecting angle theta2, the reflected light 7 is detected by the one-dimensional image sensor 10 in a photodetector 8 as strong light based upon the planeness of the card surface. The rugged display 1 of the card is decided by a deciding means 11 based upon the photodetecting intensity of the photodetector 8. Consequently the decision of the rugged display is not influenced by the ground color of the card 2, and even when the ground color of the card 2 is black or the like, the rugged display 1 can surely be decided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a card reading device for reading uneven characters stamped on cash cards, credit cards, etc., for example.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in this type of card reading device, for example, a concave-convex character recording device for a cash card, light is irradiated from a light source onto the concave-convex display surface of the card, and the concave-convex characters, etc. are discriminated using the shadows produced on the concave-convex display surface. However, it is common to record electrically.

The uneven display surface of the card is usually white or other relatively bright color so that the shadows appear clearly.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, with the recent diversification of cards, the colors have also diversified, and dark colors have come to be used.

In this case, according to the conventional card reading device that uses the above-mentioned shading, especially for cards whose background color is black,
There was a problem in that the difference in brightness between the background color and the shadow caused by the uneven display was small, making it difficult to distinguish. Furthermore, when trying to obtain images of characters based on shading, the quality of the shading as characters deteriorates, making it difficult to record it as an image.

The present invention has been developed in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to reliably distinguish uneven display without being affected by the background color of the card, and also when recording uneven display such as characters as an image. It is an object of the present invention to provide a card reading device that does not pose a risk of degrading quality.

[Means to solve the problem]

A card reading device according to the present invention includes a card having a concave-convex display such as characters such as a card number and an owner's name, a light source that irradiates light at a certain angle to the concave-convex display surface of the card, and a light source that emits light from the light source. The light receiving device detects the reflected light from the card, and the discriminating means determines the uneven display of the card based on the intensity of the reflected light detected by the light receiving device. By using the intensity of the reflected light based on the color of the card, it is possible to determine the uneven display that is related to the color of the card (and without impairing the quality of the characters, etc.), thereby achieving the above-mentioned purpose.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a card reading device according to this embodiment, Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing the reading operation, and Fig. 3 (
A) to (F) are explanatory diagrams sequentially showing the light reflection effect as the card advances.

The card reading device of this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
The card 2 is provided with a card 2 having letters such as a card number, an owner's name, and other uneven display l, and the card 2 is conveyed in a plane direction (in the direction of arrow a) by a card conveyance device in a case (not shown).

At the advancing position of the card 2, a light source 3 is provided that irradiates light onto the uneven display surface 2a of the card 2 at a constant angle θ1. This light #! 3 consists of a rod-shaped light source body 4 such as a fluorescent tube, for example, and a diffusion plate 5 attached to this light source body 4. The light emitted from the rod-shaped light source body 4 is diffused by the diffusion plate 5, and a certain amount of The uneven display surface 2a of the card 2 is irradiated with a certain width.

The irradiated light 6 from this light #3 is the uneven display surface 2a of the card 2.
After being reflected at a constant reflection angle θ2. A light receiving device 8 for receiving the reflected light 7 is provided on the optical path of the reflected light 7. This light receiving device 8 includes a self-focusing fiber lens array 9 and a one-dimensional image sensor 1 for photoelectric conversion.
It consists of 0. Then, the self-convergent fiber lens array 9 forms an erect, equal-sized image of the card 2 onto the photoelectric conversion surface of the one-dimensional image sensor IO.

Further, a determining means 11 is provided for determining the irregularity display 1 on the card based on the intensity of light received by the light receiving device 8. This discrimination means 11 includes a signal processing circuit 12 into which the electrical signal converted by the -dimensional image sensor 10 is manually input, and an electronic file 1 into which the output signal from the signal processing circuit 12 is input.
3, and recording is performed at the same time as the unevenness display 1 is determined.

Next, the operation will be explained with reference to FIG.

If the incident angle θ of the irradiated light 6 on the card 2 is equal to the reflection angle θ2 of the reflected light 7 from the card 2, then (θ, = 0
2) The reflected light 7 becomes strong light based on the flatness of the surface of the card 2, and is received by the one-dimensional image sensor 10 of the light receiving device 8. Note that the diffuser plate 5 is arranged on both sides of the optical axis of the incident light 6 to the extent that even if an error occurs between the incident angle θ1 and the reflected light θ2 due to distortion of the card 2, etc., a substantially constant amount of reflected light intensity can be obtained. The width is set to form a predetermined margin angle δ, δ2. However, if the margin angles δ1 and δ2 are set too thick (
When set, the difference in the intensity of reflected light between the flat surface and the uneven surface becomes small, so it is desirable to limit it to within a certain value.

FIG. 3 shows in detail the state of reflection of the reflected light 7 between the flat portion of the uneven display surface 2a of the card 2 and the uneven display portion 1, as the card 2 moves.

That is, the card 2 advances in the plane direction a as described above, but until the concavo-convex display 1 reaches the light reflection position, the light is reflected by the flat surface as shown in FIG. 3(A). Most of the incident light 6 is received by the light receiving device 8 as reflected light 7, and the intensity of the reflected light 7 is high.

On the other hand, when the card 2 advances further and the concavo-convex display 1 reaches the light reflecting position, the incident light 6 is disrupted by the concavo-convex display 1, as shown in sequence in (A) to (F) of the same figure. , since the direction of light reflection is shifted from the optical axis of the light receiving device 8, the intensity of the reflected light 7 received by the light receiving device 8 becomes small.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, since the intensity of the reflected light 7 based on the difference in the flatness of the cards 2 is used, it is not affected by the ground color of the card 2, and for example, if the ground color is black, the intensity of the reflected light 7 is used. Even if the unevenness display l can be reliably determined. Also, unlike the one based on shading, the unevenness display 1
Even when obtaining an image of characters consisting of , the font of the displayed characters does not become distorted, and the image can be recorded as a high-quality image.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the card reading device of the present invention, the uneven display is read using the intensity of reflected light based on the difference in flatness of the card, so it is hardly affected by the background color of the card. Therefore, it is possible to reliably discriminate between uneven displays, and even when recording uneven displays such as characters as images, there is no risk of degrading the quality.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention, in which Fig. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a card reading device, Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing the reading operation, and Fig. 3 (A) to (F). ) is an explanatory diagram showing the light reflection effect sequentially as the card advances. I...Concave and convex display, 2...Card, 2a
...Uneven display surface, 3...Light source, 6...
...Incoming light, 7...Reflected light, 8...
・Light receiving device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A card having an uneven display such as characters such as a card number and owner's name, a light source that irradiates light at a certain angle on the uneven display surface of this card, and a A card reading device comprising: a light receiving device for detecting reflected light from the card; and a determining means for determining unevenness on the card based on the intensity of the reflected light detected by the light receiving device.