JPH04178897A - Card reader provided with character erasing mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute the recycle processing of a recycle card by arranging a recording/reproducing part, a heat printing part and a heat character erasing part to be projected so as to be abutted upon a card at the time of character erasing successively from the card inlet side. CONSTITUTION:This card reader 1 has the card inserting port 6 and the recording/reproducing part 2, the heat printing part 3 and the heat character erasing part 4 to be projected so as to be abutted on a card at the time of character erasing are successively arranged in the card reader 1 from the card inserting port side and a card storing cassette is arranged in the depth of the card reader 1. Thereby, data can be recorded/reproduced on occasion, the printing part of a card can be erased and new data can be printed out. Thus, recycle processing using a recycle card can be attained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a card reader with an erasing mechanism that enables so-called recycling of cards.

(Prior Art) For example, in pachinko game parlors, it has been considered to use magnetic cards in order to save labor in exchanging prizes. In other words, when a player puts the prize balls he has won into a counting machine,
A magnetic card is issued that magnetically records and prints out the points corresponding to the number of prize balls, and when the player inserts this magnetic card into a prize exchange machine and specifies the desired prize, the points are exchanged. The appropriate amount of prizes will be released. Cards used for prize exchange are loaded with a card reader/writer that erases the recorded data and erases the printed part. If the captured magnetic card is attached to a card issuing machine built into the prize ball counting machine, new data can be recorded magnetically and printed on the printing section, and then reissued as a new card. Therefore, the magnetic cards used in such systems are also called recycled cards because they can be used repeatedly.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) As one method of the above-mentioned recycled card, a magnetic recording part comprising a magnetic material is formed at an appropriate position on the front or back surface of the card to form a magnetic card. It has been considered that a printing part is provided with a printed part consisting of a background part colored in an appropriate color and a special film pasted on the background part. The above-mentioned special film is a known film that becomes cloudy when heat of about 120° C. or higher is applied in a concentrated manner, and returns to transparency when heat of about 80 to 90° C. is applied to the entire film.

A card reader that handles recycled cards of the type described above erases the magnetically recorded data and changes the printed data when importing the card that has been used for the first time, as in the case of prize exchange in the pachinko game parlor example. However, conventional card readers do not have a mechanism for heating printed data, and therefore cannot recycle recycled cards.

The present invention has been made in view of this point, and is capable of recording data on the magnetic recording section of the card, and
Data can be heated and printed on the printing part of the card, and the printed data can be heated to make it possible to recycle recycled cards, and furthermore, this series of operations can be done quickly and without waste. It is an object of the present invention to provide a card reader with an amour-making mechanism that can be used smoothly.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that a recording/reproducing section, a heating printing section, and a heating erasing section that advances to touch the card at the time of an affair are arranged in order from the cart entrance side. The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that a card storage cassette is provided at the back of the dispensing part.

(Function) According to the invention as set forth in claim 1, after recording and reproducing information on the card, it is possible to perform heating in the heating erasing section if necessary. If you want to have a heated affair, advance until the heated eraser hits the card. The card that has been heated and printed in the heating printing section is magnetically recorded and reproduced in the recording and reproducing section and then ejected from the card insertion slot.

According to the invention set forth in claim 2, it is possible to store the card used in the affair in the card storage cassette, and
Cards stored in the card storage cassette can be sent to the heating printing section and thermally printed.

(Embodiment) In FIG. 1, a card reader 1 has a card insertion slot 6, and inside the card reader 1, in order from the card insertion slot 6 side, there are a recording/reproducing section 2, a heating printing section 3, and a heating printing section 3. A heating erasing part 4 that advances and comes into contact with the card, and a card storage cassette 5 are arranged further inside the heating erasing part 4. The recording and reproducing section 2 has a magnetic head 7 for recording data on the magnetic recording section of the card and reproducing the recorded data, and also includes a pair of transport rollers 10 and 11, a sensor S1 for detecting card insertion and removal, Conveying roller pair 1.2.1
3.

The heating printing section 3 includes a sensor S2 that detects card transportation by a drive motor, a pair of transportation rollers 14, 15, a heating print head 8, and a platen roller 16 that presses the card against the heating print head 8. It becomes. The front side (left side in the figure) of the heating printing section 3 relative to the heating printing head 8 is a holding section for temporarily holding cards.

The heating erasing unit 4 includes a pair of transport rollers 17 and 18, a love affair position detection sensor S3, a heater 9, a platen roller 19 for pressing the card against the heater 9, and a roller for pressing the card into the card storage cassette 5. and a sensor S4 for detecting insertion. The heater 9 is mounted so as to be movable up and down, and is moved by a plunger or the like only when having an affair so that it comes into contact with the card.

The card storage cassette 5 is for storing cards in a stacked state, and has a card insertion slot at the lower front side, and stores cards inserted through this insertion slot while stacking them in order from the bottom.
Further, the stacked cards can be sent out in order from the bottom. The card reader 1 enters into the lower part of the cassette 5 and takes the card into the cassette 5, and the cassette 5
A feed roller 20 is arranged to feed out the cards inside.

The cassette 5 is detachably attached to the card reader 1.

A card conveyance path is formed in a straight line from the card slot 6 to the card insertion slot of the cassette 5 through each of the parts described above.
A reject path 25 branches off after 7.18.

When the recording/reproducing section 2 cannot read recorded data or there is some other card abnormality, the card is led to a reject path 25. The reject passage 25 is provided with a pair of transport rollers 21 and 22 and a reject card detection sensor S4. The card beam conveyed through the reject path 25 is accommodated in the reject box 23.

Next, FIG. 2, which shows the above embodiment more specifically, will be described. However, since there are some parts that are slightly different from the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the description will focus on those parts and more specifically drawn parts.

In FIG. 2, the heating printing head 8 of the heating printing section 3 is
It is provided at the tip of a lever that is rotatably supported around a shaft 30. The heating print head 8 is pressed against the printing part of the card being conveyed on the platen roller 16, and by energizing the heating print head 8 based on the data signal to be printed, the data is printed on the printing part. It is becoming visible. The card conveyance path between the pair of conveyance rollers 14.degree. 15 and the platen roller 16 serves as a card holding section 38, and the card inserted from the card slot 6 and recorded and reproduced by the recording and reproducing section 2 is stored in the card holding section 38. It is set to be kept on hold.

The card conveyance path branches into an ejection path 25 immediately after the platen roller 16. Reject passage 25
The upper guide plate 39 that forms the card is made of a leaf spring, and is normally retracted from the card conveyance path, but when an abnormal card is to be rejected, an appropriate drive mechanism is used to move the upper end of the guide plate 39 away from the card conveyance path. It advances into the conveyance path and guides the cards being conveyed to the reject path 25. A pair of transport rollers 35 and 36 are provided at the end of the reject passage 25.

The heater 9 constituting the heating erasing section 4 is covered with an inverted U-shaped heat insulating material 27 on both sides and the top surface with a predetermined space in between, so as to suppress conduction of heat to the surrounding area. Heater 9
is moved up and down by a plunger or the like (not shown), and is lowered and pressed against the printed part of the card only when a love affair occurs, and is floated from the card conveyance path at other times to reduce resistance to card conveyance and to avoid unnecessary love affairs. moreover,
The bent corner of the card is prevented from hitting the heater 9. Conveying roller pairs 31.32 and 33.34 are arranged before and after the heater 9, respectively.

Below the card storage cassette 5 is the feed roller 20.
A push-up roller 29 is arranged at the back of the. Cards 28 are stacked and housed in the cassette 5.

The cassette 5 is removably attached to the card reader, and when the cassette 5 is attached to the card reader, the push-up roller 29
A portion of the feed roller 20 then enters the cassette 5 through the notch at the bottom of the cassette 5. The push-up roller 29 pushes up the card 28 in the cassette 5 to form a space between the lowest card and the bottom plate of the cassette 5, and the feed roller 29
Cards sent by the drive of 0 are stored in the above space.

Next, the operation of the embodiment described above will be explained.

Now, when a card is inserted through the card entrance 6, the recording/reproducing section 2 reads the magnetically recorded data. If the reading is normal, the card is sent to the holding section 38 and temporarily held there. If the card is abnormal, the card is transported in the opposite direction and returned from card population 6.

FIG. 3 shows the operation from the state in which the card is held in the holding unit 38. When a processing command is issued while the card is held in the holding unit 38, the card is sent to the heating erasing unit 4, the heater 9 is lowered and pressed against the printed part of the card, and the characters displayed on the printed part are erased. do. After that, the card processing is completed (
For example, if the balance or points have become zero), it is loaded into the cassette 5. If the card processing is not completed, the heating print head 8 of the heating printing section 3 is pressed against the card while the card is being conveyed in the opposite direction according to the processing command, and data is printed on the printing section of the card. Further, while conveying the card in the opposite direction, the recording/reproducing unit 2 performs write verification, and if there is no abnormality, the card is ejected from the card population 6, and if there is an abnormality, the card is further reversed in the direction of card conveyance and guided to the reject path 25. It is stored in the reject box 23.

The series of operations explained above is based on the sensor S installed in each part.
Based on the card detection signal in S4, each conveying roller is rotated forward or reverse.

The heater 9 of the heating eraser section 4 is set at a predetermined constant temperature by a temperature sensor such as a thermistor built into the heater 9 and a control circuit that operates based on a temperature detection signal from the sensor.

The heating erasing section 4 diffuses heat from its heater 9 to the surrounding area, but since the heating erasing section 4 is arranged behind the recording/reproducing section 2 and the heating printing section 8, 8 is not affected by the radiant heat from the heater 9,
Therefore, problems associated with temperature rise can be avoided. Note that the heating print head 8 of the heating printing section 3 generates heat locally and instantaneously depending on the data to be printed, so there is no problem of heat radiation as in the heating erasing section 4. .

At the initial stage of the series of operations, after the recorded data on the inserted card is recorded and reproduced, the card is temporarily held in the holding section 38. At this time, the card may be inserted just for the purpose of reading the recorded data for confirmation, so in that case, the card is simply returned after being put on hold.

Therefore, after being put on hold in the holding unit 38, the next operation is started only after the next instruction is issued. If you perform a love operation immediately after being put on hold, the visible data on the print section will be erased even though the recorded data is being read by the recording/playback section, even if the purpose is only to read the recorded data as described above. This will cause problems.

Although it is possible to provide a card storage section in the heating erasing section 4, it is not desirable because the printing section may be damaged by radiant heat from the heater 9 of the heating printing section 4.

As in the illustrated embodiment, if the recording/reproducing section 2, the heating printing section 3, and the heating erasing section 4, which advances during a love affair and hits the card, are arranged in order from the cardholder side 6, the operation will be explained. As described above, the flow of the card is simple in any operation, and the card does not move back and forth multiple times, which has the advantage of shortening the processing speed.

Note that the present invention can be applied not only to pachinko game parlors but also as a card reader for all uses that use recycled cards.

(!l!Bright effect) According to the invention described in claim 1, in order from the card entrance side,
A recording/reproducing section, a heating printing section, and a heating erasing section that moves forward and hits the card when necessary are arranged, so data can be recorded and played back as needed. Since it can be printed, recycling processing can be performed using a so-called recycling card.

In addition, since the heating printing section is arranged behind the recording/reproducing section and the heating printing section, the recording/playback section and the heating printing section are not affected by the radiant heat from the heating erasing section, and therefore the temperature rises. The obstacles associated with this can be avoided. Furthermore, by arranging each part in the above order, the card's expansion is simple in any operation, and the card does not have to move back and forth multiple times, thus shortening the processing speed. It has the advantage of being able to

According to the invention as set forth in claim 2, since the card storage cassette is provided further back in the heating erasing section, it is possible to store the card that has undergone a series of processing into the cassette, and the card stored in the cassette can be stored in the cassette. Cards can be issued while sending out cards, and such operations can be performed smoothly without waste.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a side view conceptually showing an embodiment of a card reader with an amour mechanism according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a side view showing the same embodiment more specifically, and Fig. 3 is an explanation of the operation of the above embodiment. It is a diagram.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Equipped with an erasing mechanism characterized in that a recording/reproducing section, a heating printing section, and a heating erasing section that advances to touch the card when erasing characters are arranged in order from the card entrance side. card reader. 2. Claim 1 in which a card storage cassette is provided at the back of the erasing section.
Card reader with erasing mechanism as described.