JPH04120685A - Prepaid-card system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the unauthorized use of a prepaid card by providing a means which detects that an inserted prepaid card is forcibly pulled out before the card is discharged and another means which does not allow the use of equipment when the pulled-out prepaid card is again inserted. CONSTITUTION:A controlling section 18 stores the identification code number of a prepaid card in a RAM when the section 18 discriminates that the card is valid and enables the holder of the card to use a TV receiver 11. Then the section 18 calculates the number-of-service corresponding to the watching time of the receiver 11 at a set rate and, when the remaining number-of-service becomes smaller than the number-of-service corresponding to unit watching time, discriminates whether or not the card exists in a charging device 12. When the card does not exists in the device 12, the section 18 discriminates that the holder of the card has made such an unauthorized action that the holder forcibly pulls out the card after the holder inserts the card from the card inserting port and stores the identification code number stored in the RAM in a nonvolatile memory as the identification code number of a nonusable prepaid card. Therefore, unauthorized used of the prepaid card can be prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a prepaid card system used for charging for the use of television receivers, washing machines, refrigerators, 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. Some of these tolling devices enable the device to be used when a prepaid card is inserted through the card insertion slot, and after using the device, the remaining charge data is written to the prepaid card and the prepaid card is ejected from the card insertion slot. .

For example, in a charging device that charges a fee for viewing a television receiver, when a prepaid card is inserted from the card insertion slot as shown in Fig. 12, the prepaid card is pulled in by a card conveying motor and removed from the prepaid card. It reads the frequency data and judges whether the prepaid card is valid or not based on this data. If the prepaid card is not valid, the prepaid card is ejected from the card insertion slot by the card transport motor. If so, the television receiver is turned on to enable viewing, and the broadcast signal of each program to the television receiver is selected in accordance with the channel selection signal from the operating section. Then, the frequency for the viewing time of the television receiver is counted at the set rate, 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 the television receiver is finished viewing and the television receiver viewing end signal is input from the operation panel, the remaining power data is written (rewritten) to the prepaid card. ) The prepaid card is ejected from the card insertion slot by the card transport motor. Further, when 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 from the card insertion slot by the card conveyance motor.

In addition, prepaid card systems are not only available for those who charge for viewing on television receivers, but also for refrigerators, washing machines, etc.
Some facilities charge a fee for use of dryers, shower equipment, ice makers, water heaters, etc.

Problem to be solved by the invention C] In the above prepaid card system, when a prepaid card is inserted from the card insertion slot, the device becomes usable,
After using this device, the remaining charge data is written to the prepaid card and the prepaid card is ejected from the card insertion slot, so before the remaining charge data is written to the prepaid card, the charge data is the same as before the device was used. There is.

Therefore, if the user attaches a wire or the like to the prepaid card, inserts it into the card slot, and then forcibly pulls out the prepaid card from the card slot after using the device and before writing the remaining charge data, the prepaid card can be The charge data remains the same as before the device was used, and the device can be used for free, and the prepaid card can be used illegally, allowing one prepaid card to be used forever.

An object of the present invention is to provide a prepaid card system that can improve the above-mentioned drawbacks and prevent unauthorized use of prepaid cards.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention reads charge data from the prepaid card by inserting a prepaid card, enables the device to be used when this charge data is valid, and after using the device, reads the charge data from the read charge data. In a prepaid card system having a charging device that obtains remaining charge data by subtracting charge data corresponding to usage time, writes this remaining charge data into the prepaid card, and ejects the prepaid card, as shown in FIG. card removal detection means 1 for detecting that a prepaid card is forcibly removed after insertion and before ejection and storing a unique identification code read from the prepaid card in a nonvolatile memory; The device is equipped with card use disabling means 2 that disables the use of the device with the prepaid card when a prepaid card with a code stored therein is inserted.

[For production]

A card withdrawal detection means 1 detects that a prepaid card is forcibly withdrawn after insertion and before ejection, and stores a unique identification code read from the prepaid card in a nonvolatile memory. And card disabling means 2
When a prepaid card with an identification code stored in the nonvolatile memory is inserted, the device cannot be used with the prepaid card.

〔Example〕

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the invention.

This embodiment is a hospital prepaid card system used by inpatients and their attendants in hospitals, where viewing on the television receiver 11 is charged! 12, a fee will be charged.

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 15 selects the television broadcast signal of each channel. The independent broadcasting device 16 includes a video tape recorder, a television camera, a microphone, etc., for recording and reproducing the television broadcast signal from the distributor 14, and receives the reproduction 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 a channel different from the television broadcast channel. Broadcast signal from this independent broadcasting device 16 and tuner 1
The broadcast signal from 5 is transmitted to the control section 18 by the RF switch 17.
One of them is selected and inputted to the television receiver 11 according to a control signal from the
Turn on/off the power of 1. The display/operation section 20 is the third
As shown in the figure, the TV button 21. Channel down button 22. Channel up button 23. Channel indicator 24. It has a remaining power display 25 and the like, and the prepaid card is inserted and ejected through a card insertion slot 27.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a prepaid card is inserted into and ejected from the card insertion slot 27 of the card reader/writer 28 used for paying for viewing on the television receiver 11. The rate is arbitrarily set by a switch or the like so that, for example, the viewing time on the television receiver 11 is 36 seconds, 54 seconds, 72 seconds, etc. per degree unit.

In the card reader/writer 28, as shown in FIG. 4, a prepaid card is inserted from the card insertion slot 27 in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure, and the prepaid card is transported (inserted and ejected) along a card transport path 29 by a transport system (not shown). The magnetic head 30 magnetically reads and writes data on the prepaid card, and the thermal head 31 records marks on the prepaid card. Prepaid cards are detected at each location. As shown in FIGS. 5(a) to 5(d), the magnetic head 30 consists of a write magnetic head 30a and a read magnetic head 30b, and the modulation/demodulation circuit 35 is controlled in synchronization with the write clock from the write clock generation circuit 36. The data from the unit 18 is modulated and outputted to the write magnetic head 30a via the amplifier 37, thereby writing data into the prepaid card. Further, data is read from the prepaid card by the reading magnetic head 30b, and a read signal from the reading magnetic head 30b is demodulated by the modulation/demodulation circuit 35 via the amplifier 38 and output to the control section 18. Motor drive circuit 3
9 is a card conveyance DC motor 40 that drives the above-mentioned conveyance system.
is driven by a motor forward rotation signal MF and a motor reverse rotation signal MB from the control section 18.

The card position detection circuit 41 sends card detection signals from the sensors 32, 33, and 34 to the control unit 18, and the thermal head drive unit 42 drives the thermal head 31 based on the signal from the control unit 18 to record a mark on the prepaid card. let Here, as shown in FIG.
A magnetic stripe 44 with a width of 3 cm is provided on the bottom surface at a position 91 from one side edge in parallel to the insertion direction of the prepaid card 43, and data is read and written on this magnetic stripe 44 by the magnetic head 30. . In addition, the magnetic stripe 44 of the prepaid card 43 records ID data unique to each prepaid card, fee data (frequency data corresponding to time), and an identification code number unique to each prepaid card that can be identified for each prepaid card. Initially, the frequency data is data of a constant frequency. In addition, as shown in Fig. 7, a prepaid card 4
3, ten mark recording positions P1 to PIO are provided at regular intervals in parallel to the insertion direction of the prepaid card 43, and the control unit 18 controls the thermal head drive unit 42 according to the remaining power of the prepaid card 43. Thermal head 31
is driven to record marks at mark recording positions P1 to PIO.

The control unit 18 presses the channel down button 22. Tuner 1 and RF by the signal from channel up button 22
Each time the channel down button 22 is pressed, the reception channel (the channel to be viewed) of the television reception 11 is changed by controlling the switch 17 to change the reception channel (the channel to be viewed) of the television broadcast 1.2,
3... Channels 11, 12 and independent broadcasting are selected to move downward in sequence. At the same time, when the channel up button 22 is pressed, the channels 1, 12 and independent broadcasting are selected.
Channels 2, 3, . . . , 11, 12 and independent broadcasting channels are selected in order to move upward △, and the selected channels are 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 27 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 is inserted into the card insertion slot 27 and detected by the sensor 32, the control unit 18 controls the motor forward rotation signal to drive the motor when the card detection signal PH1 from the sensor 32 turns on, as shown in FIG. The output is output to the circuit 39 to rotate the card transport DC motor 40 in the card loading direction, and when the card detection signal PH3 from the sensor 34 turns on and the card detection signal P old from the sensor 32 turns off, the motor drive circuit 39 is activated. D for card transport through
By applying a brake to the C motor 40 and stopping it, loading of the prepaid card is completed. While the prepaid card is being loaded, data is read from the prepaid card by the reading magnetic head 30b while the card detection signal PH3 from the sensor 34 is on, and this data is transferred to the amplifier 38. Modulation/demodulation circuit 3
5 to the control unit 18. The control unit 18 examines the ID data and frequency data in this input data and determines whether the inserted card is a valid prepaid card. If the control unit 18 determines from the data that the inserted card is not a valid prepaid card, or if the frequency data in the input data is
If it is determined that the frequency data is not greater than or equal to the unit viewing time, the motor reverse signal MB is sent to the motor drive circuit 3.
9 to rotate the card conveying DC motor 40 in the ejection direction and eject the prepaid card from the card insertion slot 27, the control unit 18 detects the prepaid card from the sensor 32 as shown in FIG. Approximately 2 seconds after the signal PI (1) is turned off, the card transport DC motor 40 is stopped via the motor drive circuit 39.

The control unit 18 determines that the inserted card has an ID in the input data.
If it is determined from the data that it is a valid prepaid card, and 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 identification code number in the input data is stored in the RAM, and it is determined whether this identification code number matches the identification code number of a disabled prepaid card stored in a nonvolatile memory, which will be described later. If the identification code number in the input data does not match the identification code number of the disabled prepaid card stored in the non-volatile memory, the control section 8 determines that the inserted prepaid card is a usable prepaid card. The determination is made, and the power supply control section 19 turns on the power of the television receiver 11 to enable viewing on the television receiver 11.

Next, the control section 18 activates the channel down button 22 on the display/operation section 20 . Tuner 15. in response to the input signal from channel up button 23. By controlling the RF switch 17, the antenna 13. Independent broadcasting device 16
A television broadcast signal and an independent broadcast signal to be sent 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 at a set rate, and if the counting result is less than the frequency data in the input data, the remaining energy is counted. It is determined whether or not (the value obtained by subtracting the above counting result from the frequency data in the input data) is greater than or equal to the frequency corresponding to the unit viewing time of the television receiver 11. When the remaining power is no longer equal to or greater than the number corresponding to the unit viewing time of the television receiver 11, the control unit 18 detects whether or not the inserted prepaid card 43 is inside the toll charging device 2 using the sensors 32 to 34. The judgment is made based on the card detection signal from the card. If the prepaid card 43 is not inside the tolling device 12, the control unit 18 forcibly closes the card insertion slot 27 with a wire or the like after the user attaches a wire or the like to the prepaid card and inserts the prepaid card from the card insertion slot 27. It is determined that a fraudulent act of withdrawing money has been carried out, and the identification code number of the prepaid card 43 stored in the RAM is stored in the nonvolatile memory as the identification code number of the unusable prepaid card. Further, if the prepaid card 43 is inside the charging device 12, the control unit 18 controls the viewing of the television receiver 11 based on the frequency data read from the prepaid card 43 and stored in the memory when the prepaid card 43 is inserted. The modulation/demodulation circuit 35 subtracts the count result of the frequency corresponding to the time and uses the result as the remaining frequency data. The signal is output to the write magnetic head 30b via the amplifier 37 and written into the prepaid card 43. In this case, the control unit 18 outputs the motor reversal signal MB to the motor drive circuit 39 to rotate the card conveying DC motor 40 in the ejection direction to return the prepaid card 43 to near the card insertion slot 27, and then returns the prepaid card 43 to the vicinity of the card insertion slot 27. As shown in the figure, a motor normal rotation signal is output to the motor drive circuit 39 to rotate the card conveying DC motor 40 in the loading direction to load the prepaid card 43. After the cart detection signal from the sensor 34 turns on, the prepaid card 43 is loaded. The remaining power data is written to the cart 43 (rewriting the power data). Furthermore, the control unit 18 outputs a motor reversal signal MB to the motor drive circuit 39 to rotate the card conveyance DC motor 40 in the ejection direction to eject the prepaid card 43 from the card insertion slot 27, and causes the power supply control unit 19 to The power to the John receiver 11 is cut off.

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 at the set rate. Therefore, the viewer of the television receiver 11 can press the channel down button 22. The user can select a channel using the channel up button 23 and watch television broadcasts or independent broadcasts on the television receiver 11, and press the television button 21 when the viewing is finished. The control unit 18 determines whether viewing on the television receiver 11 is finished based on the signal from the television button 21. When viewing on the television receiver 11 is finished, the control section 18 determines whether or not the inserted prepaid card 43 is inside the pay charging device 12 based on the card detection signals from the sensors 32 to 34. If the prepaid card 43 is not inside the toll charging device 12, the control unit 18
Prepaid card 4 stored in the RAM in the same manner as above.
The identification code number No. 3 is stored in a nonvolatile memory as an identification code number of an unusable prepaid card. Also,
If the prepaid card 43 is inside the charging device 12, the control unit 18 controls the television receiver 11 based on the frequency data read from the prepaid card 43 and stored in the memory when the prepaid card 43 is inserted, as described above. The modulation/demodulation circuit 35 subtracts the frequency counting result corresponding to the viewing time and uses the result as residual frequency data. The signal is output to the write magnetic head 30a via the amplifier 37 to be written on the prepaid card 43. Further, the control section 18 causes the prepaid card 43 to be ejected from the card insertion slot 27 in the same manner as described above, and causes the power supply control section 19 to cut off the power to the television receiver 11.

Further, the control unit 18 determines that the inserted prepaid card is an unusable prepaid card when the identification code number in the input data matches the identification code number of the unusable prepaid card stored in the nonvolatile memory. It is determined that the remaining frequency data of O is transmitted to the modulation/demodulation circuit 35.
By outputting it to the write magnetic head 30a via the amplifier 37 and writing it into the prepaid card 43, the remaining power data of the prepaid card 43 is rewritten to 0, making the prepaid card 43 unusable. Further, the control unit 18 causes the prepaid card 43 to be ejected from the card insertion slot 27 in the same manner as described above.

In this embodiment, it is detected that a prepaid card is forcibly removed after being inserted and before being ejected, and a unique identification code read from the prepaid card is stored in a non-volatile memory. If a stored prepaid card is inserted, the front cover data of the prepaid card will be rewritten to data that makes the device unusable, and the Ministry of Use will place wires, etc. on the prepaid card. If you carry out the fraudulent act of attaching the prepaid card, inserting it from the cart insertion slot 27, and then forcibly pulling out the prepaid card from the card insertion slot 27 with a wire or the like after the television receiver 11 is turned off and before writing the remaining charge data, The prepaid card's frequency data becomes O, making it impossible to use it after that. Therefore, if there is a high probability that the same prepaid card will be used multiple times on the same charging device, as in this example, the above-mentioned fraudulent act may result in loss but no gain. This will prevent unauthorized use of prepaid cards.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments,
For example, time data may be used instead of frequency data as charge data, and the usage time of the equipment may be counted without regard to the above-mentioned charge rate. The same can be applied when charging a fee for the use of an il water machine, water heater, etc.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, when a prepaid cart is inserted, charge data is read from the prepaid card, and if this charge data is valid, the device is enabled for use, and after using the device, the device can be used based on the read charge data. In a prepaid card system having a tolling device that obtains remaining charge data by subtracting charge data corresponding to time, writes this remaining charge data onto the prepaid card, and discards the prepaid card, the prepaid card is inserted but before being ejected. a card removal detection means for detecting that the prepaid card has been forcibly removed and storing a unique identification code read from the prepaid card in a nonvolatile memory; and a prepaid card having the identification code stored in the nonvolatile memory. Since the device is equipped with a card disabling means that disables the use of the device with the prepaid card when the prepaid card is inserted, the user can attach a wire or the like to the prepaid card and insert it, and then write the remaining charge data after using the device. If you commit the fraudulent act of forcibly withdrawing a prepaid card with a wire or the like beforehand, the prepaid card may become unusable and you may suffer a loss, but you will not gain anything, and this prevents fraudulent use of prepaid cards. be able to.

[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).
6 is a block diagram showing each part of the same card reader/writer.
7 are a bottom view and a plan view showing the 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 FIGS.
FIG. 11 is a timing chart of the card reader/writer, and FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of a control section in a conventional prepaid card system. l... Card removal detection means, 2... Card use disabling means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] By inserting a prepaid card, charge data is read from the prepaid card, and if this charge data is valid, the device can be used, and after using the device, charge data corresponding to the time of use of the device is subtracted from the read charge data. In a prepaid card system having a charging device that obtains remaining charge data, writes this remaining charge data to the prepaid card, and ejects the prepaid card, detects that the prepaid card is forcibly removed after insertion but before ejection. card removal detection means for storing a unique identification code read from the prepaid card in a non-volatile memory; and a device using the prepaid card when the prepaid card with the identification code stored in the non-volatile memory is inserted. A prepaid card system comprising: a means for disabling the use of a card.