JPH03163689A - Recording medium processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the wear of a printing means and to realize a long service life by allowing a recording medium which necessities no printing not to pass through the printing means. CONSTITUTION:For instance, a card C1 is inserted into a card inlet of this device 1. By a roller driving part 25 operated by receiving the control of a CPU 21, a pair of first carrying rollers are driven to rotate in the direction as indicated with an arrow, and carry the card C1 to a position of a magnetic head 11. The magnetic head 11 reads magnetic information containing said classifying information recorded in a magnetic stripe MS2 of the card C1, and sends its result to a printing discriminating means 24 through the CPU 21. Subsequently, from the printing discriminating means 24, printing information of a fact that printing is unnecessary is sent out, and as a result, an electromag netic solenoid does not operate and the card C1 passes through a non-printing passage r1 and discharged to a card outlet 4.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a recording medium processing device, and more specifically, to a card-shaped recording medium such as a prepaid card (hereinafter referred to as a "card"). The present invention relates to a recording medium processing device that takes in a card, processes magnetic information attached to the card, and prints character information as necessary.

(Prior Art) As a recording medium processing apparatus of this type, the one shown in FIG. 8 is conventionally known.

The recording medium processing device 50 shown in the figure includes a main body 51 having a card slot 52 and a card exit 53, and first to third roller pairs 55 forming a conveyance path 54 from the card slot 52 to the card exit 53. , 56.57 and the said King,
A magnetic head 58 and a head socket roller 59 are arranged facing each other between the second pair of rollers 55 and 56, and facing the conveyance path 54 between the second and third pair of rollers 56 and 57. The apparatus is equipped with a printer 60 and a printer socket 61 as printing means.

Then, the card C was taken in from the card population 52, magnetic information such as the card user's PIN number provided in advance on the card C was read by the magnetic head 58, and necessary character information was printed by the printer 60. After that, the card is discharged to a card exit 53.

However, depending on the type of card C, there are some that do not print text information, and unlike the conventional device 50, the print head of the printer 60 is operated without distinguishing between cards C that print text information and cards C that do not. There is a problem in that passing the print head through causes severe wear on the print head and shortens its lifespan.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to extend the life of the printing means by preventing a recording medium on which printing is not performed from passing through the printing means. The object of the present invention is to provide a recording medium processing device that is capable of processing.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention provides a process for reading magnetic information including medium type information attached to a card-shaped recording medium by a magnetic reading means by taking in and conveying the recording medium. In a recording medium processing apparatus that performs printing processing of character information on the recording medium using a printing means as necessary, a printing path that passes through a printing area by the printing means and a non-printing path that does not pass through the printing area. a branch conveyance path including a passage; a print determining means for transmitting print information indicating whether or not to print on a recording medium based on the reading result of the magnetic reading means; Based on the printing path, the printing path has a path switching means for automatically switching between the printing path and the non-printing path.

(for production) The operation of the device having the above structure is as follows.

The magnetic reading means in this device reads magnetic information including type information of the recording medium.

The print determining means sends out print information indicating whether printing is to be performed or not, depending on the type of recording medium, based on the reading result of the magnetic reading means.

The path switching means automatically switches the branch conveyance path between a printing path and a non-printing path based on the printing information.

This prevents recording media that do not require printing from passing through the printing area of the printing means, reducing wear on the printing means.

(Example) A first example of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

The recording medium processing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. first to fourth conveyor roller pairs 5, 6, 7 arranged with an interval of . 8.

Further, a printer receiving roller 9 is arranged between the third and fourth pair of conveying rollers 7 and 8 and diagonally above the third pair of conveying rollers 7.

The first and second pair of conveying rollers 5 and 6 form an entrance side conveying path R, and the fourth pair of conveying rollers 8 form an exit side conveying path R2.

Further, the third pair of conveyance rollers 7 and the printer receiving roller 9 form a branch conveyance path R3.

This branched conveyance path R3 includes a non-printing path r1 that runs from the latter stage of the second conveyance roller pair 6 to the fourth conveyance roller pair 8 via the third conveyance roller pair 7, and a non-printing path r1 that extends from the second conveyance roller pair 6 to the fourth conveyance roller pair 8.
It consists of a non-printing path r1 and a printing path r2 which branches off at the latter stage and reaches the fourth pair of transport rollers 8 via a printer receiving roller 9.

The recording medium processing apparatus 1 further includes a magnetic head 1l and a head receiving roller 12 which constitute a magnetic reading means 10 and are arranged opposite to each other between the first and second pair of transport rollers 5 and 6.

A printer 1 as a printing means has a print head as a printing area in sliding contact near the printer socket roller 9.
3 is placed.

Further, at the branch position of both printing paths rl+r2,
A passage switching means 14 is arranged.

This passage switching means 14 is arranged by an arrow α at the branching position.
1, a distribution gate 15 arranged to be rotatable in the α2 direction, an electromagnetic solenoid 16 for driving this distribution gate 15,
The actuator 16a of the electromagnetic solenoid 16 and the distribution gate 1
5 and distributes the displacement of the actuator 16a to the gate 15.
, and a spring 18 that biases the actuator 16a in the direction of arrow A.

Next, the control system of the recording medium processing device 1 will be explained with reference to FIG. 2.

This control system includes a CPU 2 1 and a program memory 22.
It is equipped with a control means 20 consisting of.

The CPU 21 includes the magnetic head 12 and the printer 1.
3. A solenoid drive unit 23 that drives the electromagnetic solenoid 14 is connected.

Further, the CPU 21 is connected to a print determining means 24 that sends print information indicating whether printing is to be performed or not based on the reading result from the magnetic head 12 according to the type of the cards CI and C2, which will be described later. There is.

Furthermore, the CPU 2 1 includes each of the transport roller pairs 5.6 and 5.6.
．． A roller drive section 25 that performs a drive of 7.8 is connected.

Next, the card C1 as a transaction medium handled by the recording medium processing device 1. C2 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b).

The card C1 shown in FIG. 3(a) is, for example, a cash card, and a magnetic stripe MS1 shown by a dotted line in the figure is provided on the bottom surface of the card C1. On the magnetic stripe MS1, type information indicating that the card is a cash card and no printing is necessary, information indicating the user's password, etc. are recorded in advance.

On the other hand, the card C2 shown in FIG. 3(b) is, for example, a prepaid card for shopping, and like the card C1, a magnetic stripe M S 2 is provided on the lower surface.

This magnetic stripe M S 2 is prerecorded with information such as type information indicating that it is a shopping card and requires printing, and information such as a password.

Further, on the top surface of the card C2, as shown in FIG. 3(b), a printing area S is provided in which the date and balance (in yen) are printed.

Next, the operation of the apparatus 1 having the above structure will be explained with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

Incidentally, the distribution gate 15 initially has α2 as shown in FIG.
Assume that at the end of the rotation, the non-printing passage r1 is communicated with the entrance side passage R1.

Assume that the card C2 is inserted into the card entrance of this device 1 as shown in FIG. 4 (STI).

Then, the first transport roller pair is rotationally driven in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 4 by the roller driving section 25 operating under the control of the CPU 21, and transports the card C2 to the position of the magnetic head 11.

The magnetic head 11 prints the magnetic stripe MS2 of the card C2.
It reads the magnetic information including the type information recorded in the , and sends the result to the printing discrimination means 24 via the CPU 21 .

Thereafter, the card C1 reaches the branch conveyance path R, but at this time, the print determining means 24 determines that printing is necessary from the type information in the read information, and sends print information to that effect to the CPU 21. Send (ST2).

This print information is sent to the solenoid drive unit 23 under the control of the CPU 21, which turns on the electromagnetic solenoid 23 (ST3) and rotates the distribution gate l5 in the α1 direction as shown in FIG. .

As a result, the card C2 is conveyed to the printing path r2 side,
The printer 13 prints character information such as month, date, remaining amount, etc. on this card C2 (ST4).

After this, the card C2 is ejected to the card exit 4 (ST
5).

On the other hand, when the card C1 is inserted into the device I, in the operation in step 2 described above, print information indicating that printing is not required is sent from the print determination means 24, and as a result, the electromagnetic solenoid 16 is activated. No card C1
is discharged to the card exit 4 via the non-printing path r1.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

The recording medium processing apparatus IA shown in the figure has a card slot 3 at one end of the apparatus main body 32, unlike the case of the first embodiment.
3 is provided, and the card C1 or card C2 is allowed to enter and exit from this card entrance 33.

Inside the main body 32 of the apparatus, fifth to seventh pairs of conveyance rollers 34, 35, 36 are arranged at predetermined intervals, and between the fifth and sixth pairs of conveyance rollers 34, 35, non-printing rollers are arranged. A printer receiving roller 37 forming a branch conveyance path R3 consisting of a path rl+ and a printing path r2 is arranged. The printer 13 is arranged near the print receiving roller 37, and its print head is in contact with the printer receiving roller 37.

Further, a path switching means t4 similar to that in the t-th embodiment is provided at the branching portion of the non-printing path rl+printing path r2 on the sixth conveyance roller 35 side. Further, an entrance side passage switching means 38 is provided at the branch portion of the branched conveyance path R3 on the fourth conveyance roller 34 side.

This inlet side passage switching means 38 is the branch part? The distribution gate 39 is provided with a distribution gate 39 arranged to be rotatable in the α1 and α2 directions, and a spring 41 that lightly biases the distribution gate 39 in the α4 direction via a connecting rod 40.

A magnetic reading means 10 is arranged between the sixth and seventh pair of transport rollers 35 and 36.

Further, the control system of this recording medium processing apparatus IA is similar to that shown in FIG.

The operation of this recording medium processing device IA is as follows.

Card C1 or card C inserted into card slot 33
2, because the distribution gate 39 is rotating in the α4 direction,
A non-printing path is obtained to reach the magnetic head 11, where magnetic information is read.

Thereafter, in the case of the card C2, the electromagnetic solenoid 16 does not operate, and therefore the card C2 is discharged to the card entrance 33 through the non-printing path r4.

On the other hand, in the case of the card C2, the electromagnetic solenoid 16 is turned on based on the print information from the print discrimination means 24, and the distribution gate 15 is rotated in the α1 direction.

As a result, the card C2 passes through the printing path r2 and reaches the printer 13, where required character information is printed in the printing area S.

After this, the card C2 is ejected to the card entrance/exit 33.

The present invention can be modified in various ways other than the embodiments described above.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention described in detail above, with the above configuration, in the case of a recording medium that does not require printing, it does not pass through the printing area of the printing means, so that wear of the printing means can be prevented. A recording medium processing device that can contribute to longer life can be provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a first embodiment of the device of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is a block diagram of the control system of the same device, Figure 3 (a). (b
) are respectively plan views of the card, FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view showing the operating state of the device, FIG. 5 is an operation flowchart of the device, FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view of the second embodiment device, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a schematic sectional view of the same operating state as above, and FIG. 8 is a schematic sectional view of the conventional device. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Recording medium processing device, 10... Magnetic reading means, 13... Printer, 14... Path switching means, 2
4... Print discrimination means, R3... Branch conveyance path, CI
,C2...Card. Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A card-shaped recording medium is taken in and transported, and a magnetic reading means reads magnetic information including medium type information attached to the recording medium. A recording medium processing device that performs printing processing of character information using a printing means, comprising: a branch conveyance path including a printing path passing through a printing area by the printing means and a non-printing path not passing through the printing area; a print determining means for sending out print information indicating whether or not to perform printing on the recording medium based on the reading result of the reading means; and a printing path based on the print information from the print determining means;
1. A recording medium processing device comprising: path switching means for automatically switching a non-printing path.