JPH056613A - Card processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to perform excellent thermal printing all the time for a thermal printing region by recording the data with regard to the thermal printing temperature in a thermal printing region in the data recording region of a card medium variably controlling the temperature of a heater, and performing the thermal printing. CONSTITUTION:When a reading command for card data from an electronic cash register is received through a communication interface 25, the card data in the magnetic record data region of a prepaid card which is carried into the inside by the driving of a motor 31 are read with a magnetic head 27. Of the data, the data with regard to thermal printing temperature is detected and stored into a RAM 24. The read-out card data are sent into the cash register through the communication interface 25, and the thermal printing of printing data is executed. Namely, the data conversion table of a ROM 23 is serched with the contents (data of thermal printing temperature) of an X register. Two kinds of time data corresponding to the temperature data are read out and stored in the RAM 24.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a card processing apparatus which can read card information recorded in an information recording area of a card medium and can print the printing data in the thermal printing area.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a prepaid card is a magnetic card in which balance amount information and the like is magnetically recorded as card information and the price of a product can be paid within the range of the balance amount. Recently, a thermal printing area is provided on one side of the card. Is provided so that the usage history of the card can be heat-sensitive printed in the heat-sensitive printing area.

Therefore, as a magnetic card reader / writer for processing the above-mentioned prepaid card, a large number of magnetic card reader / writers having a print head mechanism for thermal printing in addition to a magnetic head mechanism for reading and writing magnetically recorded information have been put to practical use. ..

[0004]

By the way, there are a heat-sensitive color forming method and a heat-sensitive destruction method as the heat-sensitive printing method, and the former prints by heating a heating element of a print head at a heat-sensitive printing temperature of about 100 degrees Celsius. The latter prints by heating the heating element of the print head at a heat-sensitive printing temperature of around 200 degrees Celsius. Even if the same method is adopted, the thermal printing temperature at which good printing can be performed varies depending on the difference in the method of forming the thermal printing area.

However, in the conventional magnetic card reader / writer capable of heat-sensitive printing, the heat-generating temperature of the heating element of the print head is fixed to one, so that the heat-sensitive printing area having a heat-sensitive printing temperature relatively close to the heat-generating temperature. Although good printing can be performed on the heat-sensitive printing area, good printing cannot be performed on the heat-sensitive printing area of the other heat-sensitive printing temperature, and particularly when the printing method is different, printing cannot be performed at all.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to variably control the temperature of the heating element in accordance with the thermal printing temperature of the thermal printing area of the used card medium to perform thermal printing. An object of the present invention is to provide a card processing device capable of excellent thermal printing.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, at least a function of reading card information recorded in an information recording area of a card medium, and a print head composed of a heating element heat-sensitively prints print data in a heat-sensitive printing area of the card medium. In a card processing device having a function, a temperature information detecting means for detecting information on a thermal printing temperature from card information read from an information recording area of a card medium, and a card based on the information on the thermal printing temperature detected by the detecting means. Printing temperature determining means for determining the printing temperature when printing the printing data in the thermal printing area of the medium, and the heating element of the print head is made to generate heat at the thermal printing temperature determined by this determining means to perform the thermal printing. And a thermal printing control means.

[0008]

According to the present invention having such a configuration, when the card information of the card medium is read by recording the information on the thermal printing temperature in the thermal printing area in the information recording area of the card medium. Then, the information on the thermal printing temperature is detected from the card information. Then, the thermal printing temperature is determined based on this detection information,
The heat generation temperature of the heating element of the print head is variably controlled so that the heat generation temperature becomes the corresponding heat-sensitive printing temperature, and heat-sensitive printing is performed in the heat-sensitive printing area.

[0009]

[Embodiment] An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a magnetic card reader / writer for processing a prepaid card will be described below.
A description will be given with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall construction of this embodiment, in which 1 is an electronic cash register, 2 is a magnetic card reader / writer, and both are connected via a communication cable 3 such as RS232C. ing.

The electronic cash register 1 is provided with a keyboard 4 on which various keys for inputting product sales information and the like are arranged, a cashier display 5 for displaying the amount and total amount of sold products, and a customer. A display device 6, a printer 7 for printing receipts, a drawer 8 for storing cash, etc. are provided. Then, the payment of the price of the registered product can be processed by the balance amount of the prepaid card 9.

The prepaid card 9 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the stripe-shaped magnetic information recording area 9 is formed on the surface.
a is formed, and as shown in FIG.
A thermal printing area 9b having a length M is formed. And
In the magnetic information recording area 9a, as shown in FIG. 3, in addition to well-known data such as a card issuing company ID d1, a card issuing company code d2, a store code d3, and balance amount information d4,
Information d5 relating to the optimum heat-sensitive printing temperature when heat-sensitively printing the heat-sensitive printing area 9b is magnetically recorded.

The magnetic card reader / writer 2 has a card insertion / removal opening 10 formed on the front surface thereof, and the magnetic recording information area 9a of the prepaid card 9 inserted through the card insertion / removal opening 10 is formed.
It has a function of reading each magnetically recorded information, a function of magnetically recording the updated balance amount information and the like in the magnetic recording information area 9a, and a function of thermally printing the print data in the thermal printing area 9b.

FIG. 4 is a control block diagram of the magnetic card reader / writer 2. In the figure, reference numeral 21 denotes a CPU (central processing unit) 21 that constitutes the main body of the control unit.
A ROM (read-only memory) 23 in which fixed data such as program data is stored in advance in the PU 21 via a bus line 22, and a RAM (random memory) in which various memory areas for temporarily storing variable data are formed. An access memory) 24, a communication interface 25 for controlling data transmission / reception to / from the electronic cash register 1 via the communication cable 3, and an I / O port 26 are connected.

The I / O port 26 has a magnetic head drive circuit 28 for driving and controlling a magnetic head 27 for reading and writing information magnetically recorded in the magnetic recording information area 9a of the prepaid card 9, and the prepaid card. 9
A print head drive circuit 30 for driving and controlling a print head (thermal head) 29 for heat-printing print data in the heat-sensitive printing area 9b, and a card conveying system for carrying in and ejecting the prepaid card 9 inserted from the card slot 10. A motor drive circuit 32 that drives and controls the motor 31 is connected.

An information conversion table 41 shown in FIG. 5 is formed in the ROM 23. The information conversion table 41 corresponds to the corresponding thermal printing temperature and the heating element of the print head 29 corresponding to the information d5 regarding various thermal printing temperatures magnetically recorded in the magnetic information recording area 9a of the prepaid card 9. The head energization time until reaching the thermal printing temperature is set in advance. The head energization time is a new printing time ta and a continuous printing time t, respectively.
Two types of b (ta> tb) are set.

That is, the print head 29 is formed by arranging a plurality of heating elements in a line by the width L of the thermal printing area 9b, and selectively heating the heating elements while stepwise feeding in the length M direction. It energizes to generate heat at a certain temperature and dot-print characters and the like. For this reason, the heating element that has been energized in the previous step rises to a certain temperature in a shorter energization time than the heating element that has not been energized. Two types are required: time) ta and continuous printing time (energization time for the heating element energized in the previous step) tb.

For example, when the character "H" shown in FIG. 7 (a) is printed, since the corresponding heating element is not energized in the previous step, the new printing time indicated by ta in FIG. 7 (b) is shown. Is selected and the corresponding heating elements are energized in the previous step in the part b, so tb in FIG.
The continuous printing time indicated by is selected and thermal printing is performed. The RAM 24 has areas X and Y shown in FIG.
Registers 51, 52 and 53 for 1 and Y2 are provided.

Therefore, the CPU 21 is programmed so as to execute the control shown in FIG. That is, as ST (step) 1, the communication interface 25
When a card information read command is received from the electronic cash register 1 via the magnetic head 27, the magnetic head 27 reads the card information magnetically recorded in the magnetic recording information area 9a of the prepaid card 9 carried in by the drive of the motor 31. Read with. Then, as ST2, the information d5 regarding the thermal printing temperature is detected from the card information and stored in the X register 51 of the RAM 24. (Temperature information detection means)

Then, the card information read in ST3 is transmitted to the electronic cash register 1 through the communication interface 25. After that, when a command for writing the card update information is received from the electronic cash register 1 in ST4, the card update information sent together with the command is written in the magnetic recording information area 9a of the prepaid card 9 by the magnetic head 27. Then, it waits for a command from the electronic cash register 1.

Further, when a card print command of print data is received from the electronic cash register 1 in ST5, the thermal printing process of print data shown in FIG. 9 is executed.
That is, the information conversion table 41 of the ROM 23 is searched by the contents of the X register 51 (thermal printing temperature information). Then, two types of head energization time information ta and tb corresponding to the thermal printing temperature information are read out, and the RAM is read.
The new print time information ta is stored in the Y1 register 52 of 24
The continuous printing time information tb is stored in each of the two registers 53. (Printing temperature determination means)

Then, based on the print data sent together with the card print command, the Y1 register 5
2 and the contents of the Y2 register 53, the print head 2
Printing is performed on the heat-sensitive printing area 9b of the prepaid card 9 by controlling the energization time of each heating element in 9. (Thermal printing control means) Thereafter, the command from the electronic cash register 1 is awaited.

Electronic cash register 1 as ST6
When the card ejection command is received from the control unit, the driving of the motor 31 is controlled to eject the prepaid card 9 from the card insertion / removal slot 10 and the process ends.

In this embodiment having such a structure, the magnetic recording information area 9a of the prepaid card 9 issued by various card issuing companies is preliminarily magnetically recorded with the balance amount information d4 and the thermal printing temperature information d5. Has been done.

The information d5 relating to the thermal printing temperature is 4-bit information (0 to F) corresponding to the thermal printing temperature that can obtain good printing quality when the thermal printing is performed on the thermal printing area 9b of the corresponding card 9. Optimal information is set for each card.

For example, when a heat-sensitive color developing method is adopted as the heat-sensitive printing method and the optimum heat-sensitive printing temperature is 130 degrees Celsius, "A: 0110 (H)" is magnetically recorded as the information d5. Further, when the heat-sensitive destruction method is adopted as the heat-sensitive printing method and the optimum heat-sensitive printing temperature is 230 degrees Celsius, "E: 1110 (H)" is magnetically recorded as the information d5.

Then, when payment for the product sold by the prepaid card 9 occurs, a card reading command is transmitted from the electronic cash register 1 to the card reader / writer 2. Then, the card reader / writer 2
In (1), the card information magnetically recorded in the magnetic recording information area 9a of the prepaid card 9 inserted from the card insertion / removal slot 10 is read and transmitted to the electronic cash register 1. Further, the information d5 relating to the thermal printing temperature in the card information is detected and stored in the X register 51 of the RAM 24.

In the electronic cash register 1,
The price of the sold product is reduced from the balance amount information d4 in the received card information, and the card information in which the balance amount information d4 is reduced and updated is transmitted to the card reader / writer 2 together with the card write command. In addition, the present date, the price of the sold product, and the balance amount after the reduction and update are sent as print data to the card reader / writer 2 together with the card print command.

Then, in the card reader / writer 2, the magnetic head 27 writes the updated card information in the magnetic recording information area 9a of the prepaid card 9, and the print head 29 heats the print data in the thermosensitive printing area 9b of the prepaid card 9. Print.

In this case, the card reader / writer 2
Searches the information conversion table 41 with the contents of the X register 51, reads out the head energization times ta and tb corresponding to the thermal print temperature information, and outputs the head energization time ta to the Y1 register 52 and the head energization time tb to the Y2 register 53. Are stored respectively. When the heating elements of the print head 29 are energized based on the print data, the heating elements that have not been energized in the previous step are the head energization time ta of the Y1 register 52.
Then, the heating element energized in the previous step is energized for the head energization time tb of the Y2 register 53.

By doing so, the heat generation temperature of each heating element of the print head 29 is controlled to be constant at the heat-sensitive printing temperature corresponding to the corresponding heat-sensitive printing temperature information, and the print data (month, day, product price) in the heat-sensitive printing region 9b is controlled. , Balance amount) is heat-sensitively printed.

For example, when the information d5 on the thermal printing temperature magnetically recorded in the magnetic recording information area 9a of the prepaid card 9 is "A", the head energization time of the print head 29 is a new printing time taA (for example, 2.5 mS). And the continuous printing time tbA (for example, 1.8 mS) is determined. During thermal printing, the heating elements of the print head 29 that have not been energized in the previous step are energized for the head energization time taA, and the heating elements that have been energized in the previous step are energized for the head energization time tbA. As a result, the heat-sensitive printing temperature is approximately 130 degrees Celsius and uniform heat-sensitive printing is performed, and good printing by the heat-sensitive coloring system can be obtained.

On the other hand, when the information d5 regarding the thermal printing temperature is "E", the new printing time taE (for example 3.5 mS) and the continuous printing time tbE (for example 1.8 mS) are set as the head energization time of the print head 29. It is determined. When performing thermal printing, the heating elements that have not been energized by the heating elements of the print head 29 in the previous step are energized for the head energization time taE, and the heating elements energized in the previous step are energized for the head energization time tbE. As a result, the heat-sensitive printing temperature is approximately 230 degrees Celsius and uniform heat-sensitive printing is performed, and good printing by the heat-sensitive destruction method can be obtained.

In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to a card processing device for magnetic cards (prepaid cards), but the present invention is not limited to this, and it has a thermal printing area and information on thermal printing temperature. Can be applied to any card processing device that processes a card medium capable of recording in advance.

Since the optimum thermal printing temperature is almost constant depending on the card issuing company, it is possible to use the card issuing company code or the store code as the information d5 regarding the thermal printing temperature. Of course, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0036]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the temperature of the heating element can be variably controlled according to the temperature of the heat-sensitive printing area of the used card medium to perform the heat-sensitive printing. It is possible to provide a card processing device that can always perform good thermal printing on a thermal printing area of a card medium.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a prepaid card used in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a format of magnetic recording information in the prepaid card.

FIG. 4 is a control block diagram of the card reader / writer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an information conversion table provided in a ROM of the card reader / writer.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a register formed in a RAM of the card reader / writer.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a thermal printing method of the card reader / writer.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing main control of a CPU of the card reader / writer.

9 is a flowchart specifically showing the print data thermal printing process of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... Card reader / writer, 9 ... Prepaid card, 9a
... magnetic recording information area, 9b ... thermal printing area, 21 ... CP
U, 27 ... Magnetic head, 29 ... Print head, 41 ... Information conversion table.

Claims (1)

Claim: What is claimed is: 1. A function of reading card information recorded in at least an information recording area of a card medium, and a function of thermally printing print data in a thermal print area of the card medium by a print head including a heating element. In a card processing device provided with, the temperature information detecting means for detecting information on the thermal printing temperature from the card information read from the information recording area of the card medium, and the information on the thermal printing temperature detected by the detecting means A printing temperature determining means for determining a printing temperature when thermally printing the print data in the thermal printing area of the card medium, and a thermal printing temperature by heating the heating element of the print head at the thermal printing temperature determined by the determining means. A card processing apparatus, comprising: a thermal printing control means for performing the printing.