JPH04102188A - Prepaid card system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the change of an interest rate easily and inexpensively by providing an interest rate setting card in which data on the desired interest rate are recorded and an interest rate setting means setting the prescribed interest rate by the data recorded in the card. CONSTITUTION:The interest rate setting card is used for setting or changing the interest rate, and the card to have recorded the data indicating the desired interest rate among the plural number of the interest rate setting cards which the data indicating each interest rate are recorded in advance is inserted from a card inserting port. The data are read out of a prepaid card or the interest rate setting card by a read magnetic head 29b, and a read-out signal from this read magnetic head 29b is demodulated by a modulation/demodulation circuit 34 through an amplifier 37 and outputted to a control part 18. Thus, it is possible to change the interest rate without increasing any cost for hardware, rather to reduce an interest rate setting switch and to make less expensive.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a prepaid card system used for charging fees for the use of television receivers in hospitals and the like.

[Conventional technology]

BACKGROUND ART Various prepaid card systems have been proposed in the past, and charging devices are used to charge fees for viewing on a television receiver, using a washing machine, and the like. When a prepaid card is inserted into this tolling device, the device becomes usable, and after the device is used, the prepaid card is processed to pay the fee for the device usage time at the rate set by the rate setting switch. There are things that emit .

For example, in a charging device that charges a fee for viewing a television receiver, when a prepaid card is inserted as shown in Figure 12, it is determined whether or not this prepaid card is valid. If not, eject the prepaid card. If the prepaid card is valid, the television receiver is turned on to enable viewing, and the broadcast signal of each program is sent to the television receiver according to the channel selection signal from the operation panel. and select. Then, the frequency for the viewing time of the television receiver is counted at the rate arbitrarily set by the rate setting switch, and the remaining frequency is determined by subtracting the frequency count result from the frequency data read from the prepaid card. It is determined whether this remaining power is valid (more than the power data per unit viewing time of the television receiver), and if the remaining power data is more than the power data per unit viewing time of the television receiver, the TV When viewing on the television receiver is finished and the television receiver viewing end signal is input from the operation panel, the prescription data on the prepaid card is rewritten to the remaining prescription data. Eject the prepaid card. Moreover, if the remaining power data becomes less than the power data per unit viewing time of the television receiver, the power data of the prepaid card is rewritten to the remaining power data and the prepaid card is ejected.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the above-mentioned prepaid card system, the rate is arbitrarily set using the rate setting switch, so when changing the rate due to price fluctuations, etc., the owner of this prepaid card system can change the rate using the rate setting switch. can. However, if the rate setting switch can be operated by the user of the device, it may lead to unauthorized use of the device, so it must be strictly protected to prevent the user of the device from operating it. This forces the owner of the prepaid card system to perform extensive rate change work when changing the rate using the rate setting switch, which is inconvenient and increases costs.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive prepaid card system that improves the above-mentioned drawbacks and allows easy rate changes.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention enables a device to be used when a prepaid card is inserted, and after using the device, performs a fee payment process on the prepaid card at a predetermined rate for the device usage time, and ejects the prepaid card. In a prepaid card system having a tolling device, as shown in FIG.
rate setting means 2 for setting the predetermined rate based on rate-related data recorded on the rate setting card 1 when the rate setting card 1 is inserted.

[For production]

When the rate setting card 1 is inserted, the rate setting means 2 sets the rate based on the rate related data recorded on the rate setting card 1.

〔Example〕

No. 21iii11 shows an embodiment of the present invention.

This embodiment is a hospital prepaid card system used by inpatients and their attendants in hospitals, and charges a fee for viewing on a television receiver 11 using a charge charging device 12.

The antenna 13 receives television broadcast signals of a plurality of channels, and the television broadcast signals from the antenna 13 are passed through a distributor 14, and a tuner I5 selects the television broadcast signal of each channel. The independent broadcasting device 16 has a video tape recorder, a television camera, a microphone, etc. that record and reproduce the television broadcast signal from the distributor 14, and it records and reproduces the television broadcast signal from the video tape recorder and the video signal from the television camera. and an audio signal from the microphone as a broadcast signal of channel H, which is different from the television broadcast channel. The broadcast signal from the independent broadcasting device 16 and the broadcast signal from the tuner 15 are selected by the RF switch 17 according to the control signal from the control unit 18 and input to the television receiver 11. The III control section 19 turns on/off the power of the television receiver 11 in response to a control signal from the control section 18 . Display/operation section 2
0 is the TV button 21.0 as shown in FIG. Channel down button 22. Channel up button 23. Channel indicator 24. It has a remaining power display 25 and the like, and cards are inserted and ejected through a card insertion slot 26. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a prepaid card and a rate setting card are inserted into and ejected from the card insertion slot 26 of the card reader/writer 27 used for charging viewing of the television receiver 11. The rate setting card is used when setting or changing the rate (ratio between the viewing time and frequency of the television receiver 11), and is one of the multiple rate setting cards on which data indicating each rate is recorded in advance. A card on which data indicating a desired rate has been recorded (or a card in which data indicating a desired rate has been written by a rate data writer) is inserted from the card insertion slot 26. The rate is set, for example, so that the viewing time on the television receiver 11 is 36 seconds, 54 seconds, 72 seconds, etc. per degree unit.

In the card reader/writer 27, as shown in FIG. It is transported (inserted and ejected) by a transport system (not shown), and the magnetic head 29 magnetically reads and writes data on the prepaid card and reads data on the rate setting card, and the thermal head 30 marks the prepaid card. The sensors 31, 32, and 33 are connected to the card transport path 28.
A prepaid card or rate setting card is detected at each predetermined position. As shown in FIGS. 5(a) to 5(d), the magnetic head 29 consists of a write magnetic head 29a and a read magnetic head 29b, and the modulation/demodulation circuit 34 is controlled in synchronization with the write clock from the write clock generation circuit 35. The data from the unit 18 is modulated and outputted to the write magnetic head 29a via the amplifier 36, thereby writing data to the prepaid card. Further, data is read from the prepaid card or rate setting card by the reading magnetic head 29b, and the read signal from the reading magnetic head 29b is demodulated by the modulation/demodulation circuit 34 via the amplifier 37 and output to the control section 18. Ru.

The motor drive circuit 38 drives the card conveyance DC motor 39 that drives the conveyance system using a motor forward rotation signal MB and a motor reverse rotation signal MB from the control section 18 . The card position checking circuit 40 sends card detection signals from the sensors 31, 32, and 33 to the control unit 18, and the thermal head drive unit 41 drives the thermal head 30 based on the signal from the control unit 18 to mark the prepaid card. Let it be recorded. Here, as shown in FIG. 6, there is a 3+
A magnetic stripe 43 of u+ width is provided at a position 9 mm from one side edge in parallel to the insertion direction of the prepaid card 42, and data is read and written on this magnetic stripe 43 by the magnetic head 29. Further, the rate setting card is provided with a magnetic stripe like the prepaid card 42, and this magnetic stripe includes data on the desired rate and data indicating the type of card (data indicating that the card is a rate setting card). is recorded. The magnetic stripe 43 of the prepaid card 42 records ID data unique to each prepaid card, frequency data corresponding to time, data indicating the type of card (data indicating that the card is not a rate setting card), etc.
Initially, certain frequency data were recorded. Also, the seventh
As shown in the figure, ten mark recording positions P1 to PIO are provided on the upper surface of the prepaid card 42 at regular intervals in parallel to the insertion direction of the prepaid card 42.
The thermal head drive section 41 drives the thermal head 30 according to the remaining power of the prepaid card 42 to record a mark at the mark recording position [PL-PIO.

The control unit 18 presses the channel down button 22. The tuner 15 and R are activated by the signal from the channel up button 22.
Each time the channel down button 22 is pressed, the F switch 17 is controlled to change the reception channel (channel to be viewed) on the television receiver 11 to 1.2 of the television broadcast.
．． 3...If, 12, and channel H of independent broadcasting are selected to move downward in sequence, and each time the channel up button 22 is pressed, channels 1, 2, 3... 11 of television broadcasting are selected. 12 channels and independent broadcasting channel H are selected to move upward in sequence,
The selected channel is displayed on the channel display 24. Further, the control unit 18 causes the remaining power of the prepaid card inserted through the card insertion slot 26 to be displayed on the remaining power display 25.

FIG. 8 shows a part of the processing flow of the control section 18.

When a prepaid card 42 or a rate setting card is inserted into the card insertion slot 26 and detected by the sensor 31, the control section 18 operates as shown in FIG. 9 when the card detection signal PH1 from the sensor 31 is turned on. The motor forward rotation signal is output to the motor drive circuit 38 to rotate the card transport DC motor 39 in the card receiving direction, and after the card detection signal PH3 from the sensor 33 is turned on, the card detection signal PH1 from the sensor 31 is turned off. At this time, the card conveying DC motor 39 is braked via the motor drive circuit 38 to stop it, thereby completing the card loading. Then, while the card is being loaded, sensor 3
When the card detection signal PH3 from the amplifier 37. The control unit 18 via the modulation/demodulation circuit 34
The control unit 18 determines whether the inserted card is a rate setting card based on data indicating the type of card in this input data. If the inserted card is a rate setting card, the control unit 18 writes (rewrites) data indicating the rate in the input data to the rate storage area of the memory, outputs a motor reversal signal MB to the motor drive circuit 38, and outputs a motor reversal signal MB to the motor drive circuit 38. The card conveying DC motor 39 is rotated in the ejection direction to eject the rate setting card from the card insertion slot 26.

In this case, the control unit 18 controls the sensor 3 as shown in FIG.
Approximately 2 seconds after the prepaid card detection signal P from 1 turns off, the card transport signal D is sent via the motor drive circuit 38.
Stop the C motor 39.

Also, if the inserted card is not a rate setting card,
The control unit 18 stores the frequency data in the input data in a memory and checks the 10 data and frequency data in the input data to determine whether or not the inserted card is a valid prepaid card. If the control unit 18 determines from the ID data that the inserted card is not a valid prepaid card, or if it determines that the frequency data in the input data is not greater than or equal to the frequency data corresponding to the unit viewing time of the television receiver 11, Similarly to the above, the motor reversal signal MB is output to the motor drive circuit 38 to rotate the card conveyance DC motor 39 in the ejection direction, thereby ejecting the prepaid card 42 from the card insertion slot 26.

When determining that the inserted card is a valid prepaid card from the ID data in the input data, and determining that the frequency data in the input data is greater than or equal to the frequency data corresponding to the unit viewing time of the television receiver 11. The control section 18 causes the power supply control section 19 to turn on the power of the television receiver 11 to enable viewing of the television receiver 11, and presses the channel down button 22. on the display/operation section 20. Tuner 15. in response to input signals from channel up button 23. By controlling the RF switch 17, the antenna 13. A television broadcast signal and an independent broadcast signal from the independent broadcasting device 16 to the television receiver 11 are selected. Then, during viewing on the television receiver 11, the control unit 18 counts the frequency corresponding to the viewing time on the television receiver 11 using the rate stored in the rate storage area of the memory, and this counting result is inputted. It is determined whether or not the remaining frequency (subtracting the above counting result from the frequency data in the input data) is equal to or greater than the frequency corresponding to the unit viewing time of the television receiver 11. If the remaining power is no more than the power corresponding to the unit viewing time of the television receiver 11, the control unit 18 controls the television receiver based on the power data read from the prepaid card 42 and stored in the memory when the prepaid card 42 is inserted. The modulation/demodulation circuit 34 subtracts the count result of the frequency corresponding to the viewing time of No. 11 and uses the result as the remaining frequency data. The signal is output to the write magnetic head 29b via the amplifier 36 and written into the prepaid card 42. In this case, the control unit 18 controls the motor reverse rotation signal MB.
is output to the motor drive circuit 38 to rotate the card transporting DC motor 39 in the ejection direction to return the prepaid card 42 to the vicinity of the card insertion slot 26, and then the motor forward rotation signal MF is output as shown in FIG. The output is sent to the motor drive circuit 38 to rotate the card transport DC motor 39 in the receiving direction to take in the prepaid card 42, and after the card detection signal from the sensor 33 is turned on, the prepaid card 4
The remaining power data for 2 is written (rewriting the power data). Furthermore, the control unit 18 outputs a motor reverse rotation signal M
B is output to the motor drive circuit 38 to rotate the card conveying DC motor 39 in the ejection direction, and the prepaid card 42 is
is ejected from the card insertion slot 26, and the power control section 19 is caused to cut off the power to the television receiver 11.

Further, if the remaining power is equal to or greater than the power corresponding to the unit viewing time of the television receiver 11, the control unit 18 presses the TV button 2.
Keep the television receiver 11 powered on until the channel down button 22.1 is pressed. Tuner 1 according to the input signal from channel up button 23
5. While controlling the RF switch 17, the frequency corresponding to the viewing time of the television receiver 11 is counted using the rate stored in the rate storage area of the memory. Therefore, the viewer of the television receiver 11 can select a channel using the channel down button 22 and the channel up button 23 and watch television broadcasts or independent broadcasts on the television receiver 11, and when the viewing is finished, Press TV button 21. The control unit 18 controls the television receiver 11 by the signal from the television button 21.
It is determined whether or not viewing has ended. When the viewing on the television receiver ii is finished, the control unit I8 calculates the frequency corresponding to the viewing time on the television receiver 11 based on the frequency data read from the prepaid card 42 when the prepaid card 42 was inserted and stored in the memory. The modulation/demodulation circuit 34 subtracts the counting result and uses the result as residual frequency data. The signal is output to the write magnetic head 29a via the amplifier 36 and written into the prepaid card 42. In this case, the control unit 18 outputs the motor reversal signal MB to the motor drive circuit 38 in the same manner as described above, rotates the card transport DC motor 39 in the ejection direction, and returns the prepaid card 42 to the vicinity of the card insertion slot 26. After that, a normal motor rotation signal is output to the motor drive circuit 38 to rotate the card transporting DC motor 39 in the receiving direction to take in the prepaid card 42, and after the card detection signal from the sensor 33 is turned on, a signal is sent to the prepaid card 42. Write the remaining count data (rewrite the count data). Furthermore, the control unit 18
Insert the prepaid card 42 into the card insertion slot 2 as described above.
6 and causes the power supply control unit 19 to cut off the power to the television receiver 1.

In this embodiment, when the rate setting card is inserted through the card insertion slot 26, the data indicating the rate recorded in the rate setting cart is written to the rate storage area of the memory, so that the rate can be set arbitrarily using the rate setting card. can be changed to . For this reason.

The rate can be changed without any increase in hardware costs, and the number of rate setting switches can be reduced, resulting in lower costs. Moreover, the rate can be easily changed by simply inserting the rate setting card.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments,
The same can be applied to cases where a charge is made for the use of refrigerators, washing machines, dryers, shower equipment, ice makers, water heaters, etc.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, a device is enabled to be used when a prepaid card is inserted, and after the device is used, a fee is paid to the prepaid card at a predetermined rate for the device usage time, and the prepaid card is discharged. In a prepaid card system having a rate setting device, the predetermined rate is set using a rate setting card on which data regarding a desired rate is recorded, and data regarding the rate recorded on the rate setting card when the rate setting card is inserted. Since it is equipped with a rate setting means for setting.

To easily change a rate using a rate setting card and to do so at low cost.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the present invention, Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the invention, Fig. 3 is a front view showing the display/operation section of the embodiment, and Fig. 4 is the embodiment. A plan view showing a part of the card reader/writer in FIGS. 5(a) to 5(d).
) is a block diagram showing each part of the card reader/writer,
6 and 7 are a bottom view and a plan view showing a prepaid card used in the same embodiment, FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a part of the processing flow of the control unit in the same embodiment, and FIG.
11 to 11 are timing charts of the card reader/writer, and FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of a control section in a conventional prepaid card system. 1... Rate setting card, 2... Rate setting means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A prepaid card system having a charging device that enables a device to be used when a prepaid card is inserted, and after the device is used, performs a fee payment process on the prepaid card at a predetermined rate for the device usage time and discharges the prepaid card, The rate setting card includes a rate setting card on which data regarding a desired rate is recorded, and rate setting means for setting the predetermined rate based on the rate setting data recorded on the rate setting card when the rate setting card is inserted. A prepaid card system characterized by: