JPH0283795A - Prepaid card type automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily judge whether a magnetic head is defective or not by comparing written data written to a magnetic card and read and data either releasing a head defective state and selling a piece of goods or returning the card and making the head into the defective state according to the compared result. CONSTITUTION:A card 22 is inserted into a card reader writer 28 of the card discriminating means of the title prepaid card type automatic vending machine, and when the insertion of the card 22 is confirmed, the contents of the card 22 are read. Next, it is judged whether the format of the read contents is correct or not, and the data are written to a check area 42 when the format is correct. Next, the written data are reread, it is discriminated whether the written data coincide with the read data or not, and when both the data coincide with each other, the write head defective state is released, an indicator 4b is lighted, the piece of goods is sold, and the card is returned from a card returning means. On the other hand, when both the data do not coincide with each other, it is regarded that the write head is defective and failed, and the card is returned.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a prepaid card type vending machine that sells products using a card (such as a magnetic card) in place of cash.

[Conventional technology]

Prepaid vending machines are used in offices, etc., where the amount information is recorded in advance on a magnetic card in exchange for cash, and the usage fee is deducted from the amount information on the magnetic card each time the machine is used. , FIG. 6, and FIG. 7 show configuration diagrams of conventional prepayment systems. 1 is a deposit machine for depositing money into the magnetic card 2, and has a card insertion slot 3a, a card balance display section 4a, and a bill insertion slot 5a for depositing money. 6 shows an external view of the card-type vending machine, which includes a card insertion slot 3b, a card balance display 4b,
There is also a push button 7 for selecting a product.

The user first inserts the magnetic card 2 into the card deposit machine 1,
Next, by inserting a banknote, only the amount of the banknote is deposited into the magnetic card 2 in advance. After that, when you insert the magnetic card 2 at the card-type vending machine 6 and purchase a product, only the amount used will be subtracted from the amount on the magnetic card 2, and the remaining amount will be written on the magnetic card. 2, the user did not need to carry coins.

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram of the card-type vending machine 6.

When the magnetic card 2 on which the payment has been recorded is inserted into the card insertion slot 3b, the card reading and writing machine 13 performs the following operations.
The amount information written on the magnetic card 2 is read out and sent to the arithmetic control section 14, and the amount is displayed on the display 4b. The product sales prices of the product selection buttons P1 to P3 are inputted to the calculation control unit 14 from the sales control unit 15, and the calculation control unit 14 determines whether or not the product can be sold, and corresponds to the product that can be sold. bend signal v1
~V3 is sent to the sales control section 15. Thereafter, when the sellable product selection button P I-P 3 is pressed, the predetermined product is sold by the product delivery devices 81 to S3, and the sales control unit 15 informs the arithmetic control unit 14 of the price of the sold product. A select signal, which is information, and a recent signal, which indicates the end of the sale, are sent out. As a result, the arithmetic control unit 14 subtracts the sales amount from the deposit amount in the magnetic card 2,
The balance is displayed on the display section 4b, and is also written into the magnetic card 2 by the force read/write machine 13. Thereafter, the magnetic card 2 is returned and the sales operation ends. The card return button 16 is a button for returning the magnetic card 2 in the continuous sales mode.

In the above-mentioned card-type vending machine 6, as a method for detecting a defect in the write magnetic head of the card league provided in the card reader/writer 13, after the card is inserted, if it is determined that the card can be sold at the time of reading, the card is After the product is sold, the balance on the card is subtracted, the new balance is written on the card 2 when the card return button is turned on, and a verification read is performed to check whether it is correct or not.

If the write data and the read data do not match during the verify read, repeated checks are performed, and if they still do not match, it is determined that the magnetic head is defective.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in such a device, a defective magnetic head can only be detected after the product is sold, and there is a problem in that the balance on the card is not updated even after the product has been sold, or the card format becomes defective.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a prepaid card type vending machine that can easily detect defects in magnetic heads.

[Means to solve the problem]

As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention includes a format checking means for reading the contents stored in an inserted magnetic card and checking the contents of the format, and a data writing means for writing data in a part other than the format. , a data reading means for reading the data, and a card determining means for determining whether or not the data written by the data writing means and the data read by the reading means match.
A card return means is provided for returning the magnetic card when the write data and the read data do not match.

[Effect]

According to this invention, the written data written on the magnetic card 22 is compared with the read data read, and if the two match, the write head defect is canceled and the product is sold, and if they do not match, the card is sold. I returned it and determined that the write head was defective. By comparing the written data and the read data, it becomes extremely easy to determine whether the magnetic head is defective.

〔Example〕

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the format of a card used in the invention. In the figure, the same reference numerals as in FIG. 8 indicate the same members. Reference numeral 22 designates the card shown in FIG. 3, where a portion 41 is a user area for determining whether or not the card can be used, and a portion 42 is a check area for checking for defects in the magnetic head. 28 is a card reader/writer that accepts the card 22, 34 is a card discriminator that discriminates the card based on a signal from the reader/writer 28, and 35 is an arithmetic control section that performs calculations. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the user area 41 described above.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a program in this invention.

If you now insert the card 22 into the card reader/writer 28,
Determine whether the card is inserted or not (Step 1); if YES, read the contents of the card (Step 2), then determine whether the format is correct (Step 3)
, YES, data is written in the check area 42 (step 4). This data may be any data other than the data that comes in at the time of reading the card contents, such as random numbers, bit-inverted data of the read data, etc.

Next, step 5) rereads the data written in step 4 above, determines whether the written data matches the read data step 6), and if they do, resolves the write head failure step 7). , and the display 4b is turned on (step 8), and the product is sold (step 9).
) Return the card (step 10).

If they do not match in step 4, return the card.Step 11) It is determined that the write head is defective and has failed, and step 12) returns the card.

In this embodiment, even if a head writing failure is detected, the card contents (user area) are not changed, so there is no need to stop card sales from now on as was done in the past, so the process returns to step 1 even after a failure is detected. be able to. In other words, even if the head is temporarily defective due to dust adhesion, if the dust is removed, step 7 above will be performed.
It becomes possible to automatically cancel the write failure.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to this invention, it becomes possible to easily detect a malfunction of a magnetic head before selling a product, it is possible to prevent the product from being sold for free, and it is also possible to prevent the formant of the card from becoming defective. Furthermore, in the case of a temporary card failure, the write failure can be automatically canceled, thereby reducing the amount of maintenance that would otherwise occur.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a claim correspondence diagram showing the configuration of this invention, Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of this invention, Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the format of a magnetic card, and Fig. 4 is a user diagram of Fig. 3. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the program of the present invention. FIGS. 6 and 7 are front views of a deposit machine and a card-type vending machine of a conventional prepayment system. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a control device in the card-type vending machine of FIG. 7. 15... Sales control department, 22... Card, 28...
Card reader/writer, 34...Card discrimination unit, 35...
・Calculation control unit. Diagram

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) Format checking means for reading the contents stored in the inserted magnetic card and checking the contents of the format, data writing means for writing data in areas other than the format, and data reading means for reading the data. a card determining means for determining whether or not the data written by the data writing means and the data read by the reading means match; and a card return means for returning the magnetic card when the written data and the read data do not match. A prepaid card type vending machine characterized by comprising: