JPH0534047Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] (Industrial field of application) The present invention relates to an IC card reader, and is particularly designed to prevent poor contact between contacts on the IC card side and contact terminals on the card reader side. This is related to an IC card reader.

(Prior art) An IC card in which an IC chip is incorporated into the card, an information signal is recorded on the IC chip, and the recorded information signal can be read out.
An IC card reader that sends and receives information signals to and from an IC card has been proposed. The IC card has contacts for transmitting and receiving information signals, and the information signals are transmitted and received while a contact terminal provided on the IC card reader side is in contact with the contacts of the IC card.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) The contact terminal of an IC card reader with respect to an IC card is different from the contact relationship of a connector, etc., and the contact terminal of an IC card reader frequently alternates between a contact state and a non-contact state with respect to the contacts of an IC card. The non-contact state is overwhelmingly longer than the contact state. Therefore, an oxide film is formed on the contact terminal during non-contact and corrosion occurs. Moreover, since the signal current exchanged with the IC card is a weak current on the order of μA, the oxide film may be destroyed by the signal current flowing between the contact terminal and the contact point with the IC card. It is easy to cause electrical contact failure. On the other hand, if a corrosion-resistant terminal material is selected, there is a problem in that the cost increases.

An object of the present invention is to provide an IC card reader that prevents poor contact due to corrosion of contact terminals.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The IC card reader of the present invention arranges a conductive member at a position where the contact terminal can come into contact, and also brings the contact terminal into contact with the conductive member. The contact terminal is characterized in that the contact terminal is cleaned by passing an electric current through it.

(Function) When a cleaning current is applied to the contact terminal while the contact terminal is in contact with a conductive member, the oxide film formed on the contact terminal undergoes dielectric breakdown. Therefore, by applying a cleaning current before exchanging information signals with the IC card or at other appropriate times, it is possible to eliminate poor contact between the contacts of the IC card and the contact terminals of the IC card reader. can.

(Example) In Figs. 1 to 3, the guide block 1
1 has the function of guiding and supporting a plurality of (six in the illustrated example) contact terminals 12 that come into contact with terminal contacts of an IC chip formed on the IC card 1. The contact terminal 12 has an integral output terminal portion 12b as shown in FIG. 3, and when the output terminal portion 12b is inserted into the hole 11a of the guide block 11, the contact terminal is supported so as to be movable in its axial direction. The fixing plate 14 is fixed on the guide block 11 by screws 15 passing through the fixing plate 14 being screwed into the guide block 11, and the circumference of the leaf spring 13 is held down by the fixing plate 14. The leaf spring 13 is fixed to the guide block top 11 by being held in place. The contact terminal 12 passes through the leaf spring 13. The penetrating portion of the leaf spring 13 through which the contact terminal 12 passes is cut out in an H-shape as shown in FIG. Flange portion 12a of terminal 12
is on board. On guide block 11,
A recess 11b is formed at a position facing the lower surface of the leaf spring 13.

The fixing plate 14 has a hole 14 through which the contact terminal 12 passes.
a is provided, and the contact terminal 12 is inserted into this hole 14.
The contact point 1a of the IC card 1 can be contacted by protruding from the contact point 1a of the IC card 1.

The guide block 11 is slidably fitted onto a guide pin 17 provided on a substrate 16 of the IC card reader, and is rotated upward in FIG. 1 by an extensible coil spring 18 wound around the guide pin 17. energized and supported. However, movement of the guide block 11 due to this biasing force is prevented by appropriate regulating means. This regulating means includes a motor M fixedly placed on an immovable member, a cam 19b provided on the output shaft 19 of the motor M via an arm 19a, and a guide block 11 integrated with the cam 19b in accordance with the rotation range of the cam 19b. side plate 2
It consists of a rectangular hole 20 drilled in 1. The first cam 19b is in contact with the lower edge of the hole 20.
In the state shown in FIGS. 2 and 2, the spring 18 is in a compressed state, and the contact terminal 12 is retracted below the pedestal 25, which serves as the vertical reference surface of the IC card 1.
The cradle 25 has an IC located deep in the direction of movement of the IC card 1.
A positioning pin 22 is attached to restrict the end of the card 1 in the advancing direction. A pair of feed rollers 23 are arranged on the pedestal 25 on the front side in the direction in which the IC card 1 moves. Reference numeral 24 indicates a side plate.

A conductive plate 30 as a conductive member is disposed on the pedestal 25 at a position that faces the contact terminal 12 and can come into contact with the contact terminal 12. As shown in FIG. 5, this conductive plate 30 has contact terminals 1 and
2 are brought into contact with each other, and a cleaning current i is caused to flow from the cleaning current supply source through the contact terminals 12 to the other contact terminals 12 through the interposition of the conductive plate 30. As the cleaning current i, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, a large current is caused to flow momentarily. The conductive plate 30 is embedded in the pedestal 25, but the pedestal 2
It is only necessary to fix it to the pedestal 25 by means such as gluing it to the pedestal 25.

Now, with no IC card, motor M is connected to the first
Assume that the stopper function is released by rotating approximately 180 degrees from the state shown in the figure. Along with this, spring 18
The block 11 rises due to the urging force, and the contact terminal 12
contacts the conductive plate 30 placed on the pedestal 25 . In this state, each contact terminal 12 is electrically short-circuited through the conductive plate 30. Therefore, from the cleaning current supply source to the sixth
A terminal cleaning current i as shown in the figure is applied to each contact terminal 12 through a conductive plate 30.
flow to. The cleaning current i is, for example, several tens of mA.
It shall be made to order. By causing the cleaning current i to flow through each contact terminal 12, insulating corrosion such as an oxide film formed at the tip of each contact terminal is destroyed.

Next, by rotating the motor M 180° again to provide a stopper function, the contact terminal 12 is separated from the pedestal 25 as shown in FIG. Insert the IC card into the reader. The inserted IC card 1 is sent in the direction of the arrow as the feed roller 23 rotates. When the leading end of the card comes into contact with the positioning pin 22, a sensor (not shown) detects this and stops the rotation of the feed roller 23, thereby stopping the advancement of the IC card 1. Subsequently, the motor M rotates approximately 180 degrees from the state shown in Fig. 1 to release the stopper function, and the contact terminal 12 rises as in the previous case.
This time it comes into contact with the contacts 5a of the IC card 1. In this case, the protruding piece 13a of the leaf spring 13 is bent,
The contact terminal 12 is pressed against the bottom surface of the recess 11b of the block 11 via the protruding piece, and in this state
Press the contacts 5a of the IC card 1. Therefore, this pressing force is applied by the spring 18, and a sufficient pressing force can be obtained.

In this way, information signals are exchanged between the IC card reader and the IC card 1 with each contact terminal 12 being pressed into contact with the contact 5a of the IC card 1. The contact between the contact terminal 12 and the IC card 1 is destroyed by applying a cleaning current i to each contact terminal 12 before inserting the card 1 to destroy the corroded parts such as the oxide film at the tip of each contact terminal 12. 5a becomes good, and poor contact can be prevented.

After the transmission and reception of the information signal is completed, the motor M is driven to return the position of the cam 19b to the position shown in FIG. Since the contact terminal 12 is lowered by this operation, the feed roller 23 is reversed and the IC card 1 is ejected.

The cleaning current supply circuit and the information signal exchange circuit are configured as shown in FIG. 7, for example. In FIG. 7, reference numeral 31 is a power supply terminal, 32 is an information signal input terminal, and 33 is an information signal output terminal. In addition to the terminals 31, 32, and 33, input/output terminals for information signals are provided, but illustration thereof is omitted.
The power supply terminal 31 is connected to one of the contact terminals 12 via an information signal switch S21. A capacitor C is connected between this one contact terminal 12 and ground. Capacitor C is connected to power supply terminal 31, cleaning power supply switch S1, and resistor R.
It is now being charged via The capacitor C serves as a cleaning current supply source. The information signal input terminal 32 is connected to another one of the plurality of contact terminals 12 via a gate 34 and an information signal switch S22, and this contact terminal 12 is grounded via a cleaning switch Sa1. It's getting old. Another one of the contact terminals 12 is a cleaning switch.
It is grounded via Sa2 and connected to the information signal output terminal 33 via an information signal switch S23 and a gate 35. Also between the other contact terminals 12 and the information signal input/output terminal are the switches S22, S23 and the cleaning switch Sa.
It is assumed that the connection relationship is similar to that of 1 and Sa2. The above information signal switch S2
1, S22, and S23 are interlocked and are opened and closed at the same time.

In the above circuit, normally the information signal switches S21, S22, S23 are turned on and the other switches S1, Sa1, Sa2 are turned off.
Power is supplied to the IC in the IC card through the switch S21 and one of the connection terminals, and
From the other contact terminal 12 to the information signal switch S22
Information signals can be exchanged with the IC card through gates 34 and 35. On the other hand, when trying to clean each contact terminal 12,
With the information signal switches S21, S22, and S23 turned off, the cleaning power supply switch S1 is first turned on to charge the capacitor C. Next, when the cleaning switch Sa1 is turned on, the capacitor C is connected to the contact terminal 12 connected to the above-mentioned conductive plate 3.
A cleaning current as shown in FIG. 6 flows through the contact terminal 12 to which the cleaning switch Sa1 is connected and the switch Sa1, and the contact terminal 12 through which this cleaning current flows is cleaned. Next, turn off the cleaning switch Sa1, charge the capacitor C again, and this time turn the cleaning switch Sa1 off.
Turn on 2. This cleans the contact terminal 12 to which the switch Sa2 is connected. Thereafter, the cleaning current is applied to the other contact terminals 12 in the same manner to perform cleaning.

A conductive plate for cleaning the contact terminals 12 may be placed on the IC card. 8th
9 and 9 show an example of this, in which a conductive plate 37 is arranged at a position where each contact terminal 12 can contact the IC card 1 at the same time. The conductive plate 37 may be embedded in the IC card 1 or may be adhered. If such an IC card is used, the contact terminals 12 can be cleaned without providing a conductive member on the IC card reader body. Further, instead of an IC card, a normal card may be provided with a conductive member, or the card itself may be made of a conductive member, and the card may be used as a cleaning-only card.

The conductive plates for cleaning the contact terminals 12 do not necessarily have to be in contact with all the conductive plates at the same time, but as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, a set of two contact terminals is used. 12
several sets of conductive plates 38 that can be in contact with each other at the same time.
It may also be placed on the IC card 1. Several sets of conductive plates are mounted on the pedestal 2 in the example of FIGS. 1 to 3.
It may be placed in 5.

Furthermore, it is not always necessary to form a short-circuit state with a plurality of contact terminals 12 at the same time, and as shown in FIG. plate 3
The cleaning current i may be made to flow independently to each contact terminal 12 via the contact terminal 9.

In the example of FIGS. 1 to 3, if the pedestal 25 itself is made of a conductive material, the pedestal 25 itself may be a conductive plate, and it may be unnecessary to arrange another conductive plate.

By devising the shape of the conductive plate for cleaning, it is also possible to confirm the positioning accuracy of the IC card relative to the contact terminals. Furthermore, by monitoring the contact resistance of the contact terminals 12, it is also possible to determine when it is time for maintenance.

(Effects of the invention) According to the IC card reader of the invention, since the cleaning current is passed through the contact terminals with the intervening conductive member, the contact terminals can be easily cleaned, and the weak signal current give and receive
Poor contact between an IC card and its card reader can be easily resolved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a right side view of the same as above, Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the fixed plate and its surroundings in the above embodiment, and Fig. 4 is a leaf spring in the above embodiment. and a front view of the contact terminal, FIG. 5 is a front view showing an example of the cleaning current path in the above embodiment, FIG. 6 is a waveform diagram showing an example of the same cleaning current, and FIG. 7 is a cleaning diagram that can be used in the present invention. A circuit diagram showing an example of a current supply source and an information signal circuit portion, FIG. 8 is a front view showing another example of the arrangement of conductive plates in the present invention, FIG. 9 is a partially sectional side view of the same, and FIG. Front view showing still another example of arrangement of conductive plates in the present invention, No. 11
This figure is a partially sectional side view of the same as above, and FIG. 12 is a front view showing another example of the cleaning current supply path in the present invention. 1...IC card, 5a...contact, 12...contact terminal, 30, 37, 38, 39...conductive plate, C...capacitor as a cleaning current supply source.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In an IC card reader in which a contact terminal is brought into contact with a contact point provided on an IC card to exchange information signals with the IC card, a conductive member is arranged at a position where the contact terminal can come into contact with the IC card, and An IC card reader characterized in that the contact terminal is cleaned by bringing the contact terminal into contact with the conductive member and passing a current through the contact terminal.