JPH0574021A - Card reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To recognize whether a main body is opened or not without providing in body opening and closing sensor on the card reader equipped with an opening and closing mechanism in the main body. CONSTITUTION:Plural card detecting sensors 4-6, each consisting of a light receiving element (a) and a light emitting element (b) which is arranged to be a pair with the light receiving element (a) via a card carrier course, these elements being arranged respectively on a main chassis 7 and a subchassis 8; are so arranged that at least one of their mutual distances should be longer than the card length, and a controller is provided to decide that the main body is opened at the time when all the card detecting sensors 4-6 become under the card detected state.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a card reader having a main body divided into two blocks, a main chassis and a sub chassis, and a function of recognizing the open / closed state of the main chassis and the sub chassis. ..

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in a card reader, for the purpose of maintenance such as cleaning of the magnetic head and the card transport section, and handling of a card jam, the card reader body is divided into two blocks, a main chassis and a sub chassis. Along with the division, many of them are provided with an opening / closing mechanism for them.

FIG. 1 (a) shows an example of the structure of a card reader, which is a first to third card carrier for carrying a card 10.
Transport rollers 1 to 3, first to third card detection sensors 4 to 6 for detecting the card position where the light receiving element a and the light emitting element b are paired, and the main chassis 7 of the card reader body. And a sub-chassis 8 and its opening / closing mechanism 9.

FIG. 1B shows a state in which the main chassis 7 and the sub chassis 8 of the card reader body are opened.

Conventionally, in this kind of card reader, in order to recognize whether or not the main chassis 7 and the sub chassis 8 are opened, it is a general method that a switch is newly provided and the state of this switch is used for discrimination. is there. Various types of switches such as mechanical contact type and optical type are applied to this switch.

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional configuration, it is necessary to add new components to the main body of the card reader, which causes a problem of cost increase. In addition, the use of mechanical contact switches has the drawback of short life and low reliability, and the use of optical switches also has the drawback of being mechanically complicated. It was

In view of the above conventional problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a card reader capable of recognizing the open / closed state of a main body without adding a component.

[0008]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a main chassis and a sub chassis that are openably and closably connected through an opening / closing mechanism, a transfer mechanism for transferring a card, and a light receiving element. And the light-receiving element and the light-emitting element that forms a pair with the card transport path sandwiched between the main chassis and the sub-chassis, and at least one of them is arranged to be longer than the card length. A plurality of card detection sensors, a binarization circuit for converting the output signals of the plurality of card detection sensors into rectangular waves, and
It is characterized by comprising a controller which monitors a plurality of output signal states of the digitizing circuit and judges that the main chassis and the sub chassis are opened when all the signal states become equal to the card detection state.

[0009]

According to the present invention, when the card passes between the light emitting element and the light receiving element, the light from the light emitting element is blocked by the card, so that the light does not reach the light receiving element paired with the light emitting element. Disappear. The controller recognizes the card position by this, but when the main body of the card reader is opened, optical axis misalignment occurs between all light emitting elements and light receiving elements, and all light receiving elements emit light. The controller recognizes that the main chassis and subchassis have been opened in this state, because the light from the unit goes out. Thus, the conventional card detection sensor can be commonly used as the opening / closing sensor of the card reader body, and the opening / closing state of the card reader body can be recognized without adding a new component such as a switch.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the card reader of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

Since the structural components are as shown in FIG. 1 described in the above-mentioned conventional example, the description thereof will be cited and the description thereof will be omitted. As shown in FIG. 1A, the distance between the first card detection sensor 4 and the third card detection sensor 6 is set longer than the length of the card 10.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a means for recognizing the open / closed state in the card reader body of this embodiment. The output signals of the card detection sensors 4-6 are passed through the binarization circuit 11. It is input to the microcomputer 12, which is a controller. FIG. 3 shows the first to third states when the card is transported and the main chassis 7 and the sub chassis 8 are opened.
Binarization circuit 1 corresponding to the card position detection sensors 4 to 6
1 shows an example of the output signal of No. 1 of FIG.

The principle of operation of recognizing the open / closed state of the card reader body will be described below.

Since the distance between the first and third card detecting sensors 4 and 6 is arranged to be longer than the card length, the card 10 from the left with the main chassis 7 and the sub chassis 8 closed. When the card is conveyed to the right, all the card detection sensors 4, 5, 6 do not enter the card detection state. However, as shown in FIG. 1B, when the main chassis 7 and the sub-chassis 8 are opened, the optical axes of the light-receiving element a of the main chassis 7 and the light-emitting element b of the sub-chassis 8 which have been opposed to each other until now. The output signals of the card detection sensors 4 to 6 are all in the same state as the card detection state.

Therefore, the plurality of output signal states of the binarization circuit 11 are monitored by the microcomputer 12 every moment, and the main chassis 7 and the sub-chassis 8 are opened when the state of all signals becomes equal to the card detection state. It is possible to recognize the opened / closed state of the card reader main body by including a program for determining that the card reader main body is in the microcomputer 12.

In this embodiment, the one-chip microcomputer 12 is used as the controller, but it goes without saying that other circuit means can be used.

[0017]

According to the card reader of the present invention, it is possible to recognize whether or not the main chassis and the sub-chassis are opened without providing another component such as a switch for detecting the open / closed state, and further reliable. It is possible to realize an inexpensive card reader with high performance.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a card reader according to an embodiment of the present invention,
(A) is a schematic block diagram which shows the state which closed the main body, (b) is a schematic block diagram which shows the state which opened the main body.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a detection circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a waveform diagram of the output signal of the binarizing circuit showing the operation of the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 First Conveying Roller 2 Second Conveying Roller 3 Third Conveying Roller 4 First Card Detection Sensor 5 Second Card Detection Sensor 6 Third Card Detection Sensor 7 Main Chassis 8 Sub Chassis 9 Opening / Closing Mechanism 10 Cards 11 Binarization circuit 12 Microcomputer (controller) a Light receiving element b Light emitting element

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A main chassis and a sub-chassis that are openably and closably connected via an opening / closing mechanism, a transport mechanism for transporting a card, a light receiving element, and a light emission paired with the light receiving element sandwiching a card transport path. A plurality of card detection sensors each of which is arranged in a main chassis and a sub chassis, and arranged so that at least one of them is longer than the card length, and outputs of the plurality of card detection sensors A binarization circuit for converting a signal into a rectangular wave,
A card reader including a controller that monitors a plurality of output signal states of the binarization circuit and determines that the main chassis and the sub-chassis are opened when all the signal states become equal to the card detection state. ..