JPH06101183B2 - Warning system for magnetic card reader / writer - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a magnetic card reading / writing device capable of reading information on a magnetic card obtained in advance and writing necessary information on the magnetic card, In particular, the present invention relates to an alarm system of a magnetic card reading / writing device that can issue an alarm before it becomes unreadable.

[Conventional technology]

This type of magnetic card reading / writing device is known as a device capable of reading the information of a magnetic card obtained in advance and writing necessary information. Such magnetic card reading / writing devices are used in telephones, automatic ticket vending machines, automatic vending machines, and the like.

In this magnetic card reading / writing device, the magnetic head or the like and the roller for conveying the magnetic card are worn out in some cases due to use, so that the reading becomes impossible.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

The magnetic card reading / writing device could not know such unreadable state in advance. Therefore,
The magnetic card reading / writing device is replaced every time a certain period of time elapses to avoid the unreadable state.

However, the magnetic card reading / writing devices do not all become unreadable in the same time, and the unreadable time varies depending on the frequency of use, so the method is not reliable.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned circumstances, and provides an alarm method for a magnetic card reading / writing device that surely determines the time when reading becomes impossible according to each usage state and issues an alarm. The purpose is to do.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In order to achieve the above object, an alarm system of a magnetic card reading / writing device according to the present invention is a magnetic card reading device capable of reading necessary information on a magnetic card obtained in advance and writing necessary information on the magnetic card. In the writing device,
When the difference between the read signal intensity of the read head before a certain period of time and the current read signal intensity of the read head is taken to determine the slope of both, when the extension line of the slope reaches a certain reference value within a predetermined period It is characterized by issuing an alarm.

[Action]

The magnetic card reading / writing device is provided with a front insertion / removal memory. Further, the front-in / out-out memory can store the intensity of the read signal from the read head every time a predetermined time elapses. Then, the read signal intensity currently read from the reading head is stored in the advance insertion memory, and the read signal intensity before a fixed time is read from the advance insertion memory to read the current read signal intensity and the read before the fixed time. While taking the difference with the signal strength,
By dividing by a fixed time, the slopes of both are obtained. Then, an extension line of the inclination is obtained, and an alarm is issued when the extension line reaches a certain reference value within a predetermined period.

As a result, it can be predicted that the area close to the unreadable area can be reached within the predetermined time, and the magnetic card reading / writing device can be replaced depending on the actual usage state.

〔Example〕

 Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on the illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 1 to FIG. 8 are diagrams for explaining one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a vending machine to which an embodiment of an alarm system of a magnetic card reading / writing device according to the present invention is applied.

In FIG. 1, a vending machine 1 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and a front panel 2 of this rectangular parallelepiped is provided with showcases 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d for displaying sample products, and an indicator lamp is provided under the showcases 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d. Provide built-in product selection buttons 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d,
A paper insertion slot 5 and a coin slot 6 are provided, a change tray 7 is provided below the coin slot 5, a product outlet 8 is provided, and a card slot 10 into which a magnetic card 9 is inserted is provided. . Further, the vending machine 1 is provided with a sound alarm 11 for notifying the user that he / she has forgotten to take out the card and other sounds, and a cancel lever 12 for canceling the settlement.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a magnetic card used in the embodiment of the present invention.

This magnetic card 9 is made of thin plastic, paper or the like and has flexibility, and the surface thereof has a second
As shown in FIG. (I), an area 13 for displaying the settlement amount and the settlement state is provided, and other necessary items (sales amount, issuer name, etc.) are printed. Further, the magnetic card 9 is provided with magnetic stripes 15 and 16 as a magnetic recording medium on the back surface thereof as shown in FIG. 2 (II). The magnetic stripe 16 is
As shown in FIG. 2 (III), the code Cd is recorded.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing an internal configuration of the settlement device.

Inside the automatic vending machine 1, there are provided a money handling mechanism 18, a magnetic card reading / writing device 19, a settlement processing device 20, a product discharging mechanism 21, and a magnetic card issuing device 22.
In addition, the money handling mechanism 18 reads the authenticity of the money and the value of the money inserted into the paper insertion slot 5 and the coin slot 6. The magnetic card reading / writing device 19 reads information from the magnetic card 9, makes an adjustment, and writes the information after the adjustment. The settlement processing device 20 is the money handling mechanism 18
And the value information from the magnetic card reading / writing device 19 are processed, and the product selection buttons 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d are designated, and based on this, the product discharge mechanism 21 or the magnetic card issuing device 22.
Is to drive. The magnetic card issuing device 22 reads the code from the ROM 23 provided in the main body of the vending machine, and this code matches the code written in the magnetic stripe 16 of the magnetic card 9 in which no currency information is written. Sometimes, the magnetic card 9 can be issued. Note that, since the currency handling mechanism 18 is not directly related to the present invention, description thereof will be omitted hereinafter.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing the configuration of the magnetic card reading / writing device 19.

The magnetic card reading / writing device 19 is configured as follows. That is, a pair of feed rollers 30 and 31 is rotatably provided in parallel at a position corresponding to the card insertion slot 10. A read magnetic head 32 is provided near the feed rollers 30 and 31. The reading magnetic head 32
Is for reading data such as the amount of money and the issuer from the data magnetic stripe 15 of the magnetic card 9. Further, reflection type optical reading devices 33, 34 and 35 are provided. These reflection type optical reading devices 33, 34 and 35 detect the position of the magnetic card 9. A write magnetic head 36 is provided near the read magnetic head 32. The write magnetic head 36 writes the amount of money to the data magnetic stripe 15. The reading magnetic head 32 is provided with a pressing roller 37. The write magnetic head 36 is provided with a pressing roller 38. The pair of feed rollers
A pair of feed rollers 39 and 40 are further provided so as to be rotatable in parallel with 30 and 31. The feed roller 39,
A punch mechanism 41 is provided on the left side of the figure with respect to 40. The punch mechanism 41 has a mechanism capable of punching holes in the area 13 of the magnetic card 9 according to a punch command. Further, a pair of rollers 42, 43 is provided so as to be rotatable in parallel, and a card contact detection sensor 44 also serving as a stopper is provided on the right side of the rollers 42, 43 in the drawing. The feed roller 30, the feed roller 39, and the roller 42
Is a step motor 45 for driving through a mechanism not shown.
And is rotated according to the rotation of the step motor 45.

The reading magnetic head 32, the optical reading device 33, 34, 35,
The punch mechanism 41 and the card contact detection sensor 44 are control circuits.
It is electrically connected to 50. Further, the control circuit 50 is connected to the write magnetic head 36 via a write driver 47. Further, the control circuit 50 is adapted to rotate the step motor 44 via the motor cond roller 46.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing the control circuit 50.

The control circuit 50 includes an amplifier circuit 51, an analog-digital converter (AD converter) 52, a digital-analog converter (DA converter) 53, an input / output unit 54, and a controller 55. The controller 55 consists of a CPU56, a ROM57, a RAM58,
It is composed of an interface 59 and an external interface 60. The CPU 56 of the control circuit 50 is provided with a timer (not shown). In the RAM 58, as shown in FIG.
Memory) 6 can be realized. In the FIFO memory 61, when the signal strength Vi is stored at the time ti, the signal strength Vi stored before that becomes the signal strength Vo. Further, the ROM 57 stores a predetermined reference value H in addition to the program for realizing the control circuit 50. The predetermined reference value H is slightly above the unreadable value L as shown in FIG. CPU56
Is the ROM57 program, the difference between the previous time and the current time is ΔT, and the slope is θ, then θ = (Vo−V / ΔT) is calculated and θ is calculated. It is possible to extend the inclination θ and perform arithmetic processing as to whether the extended line intersects with a predetermined reference value H within a certain period T.

The operation of the embodiment thus configured will be described.

FIG. 7 is a waveform diagram showing how the read signal intensity obtained by the read magnetic head decreases with time.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart shown to explain the operation of the embodiment.

When the control circuit 50 detects that a certain time (a certain day) has passed by the timer of the CPU 56 (step 200),
When the magnetic card 9 inserted into the mechanical section of the magnetic card reading / writing device 19 is read, the read signal strength V is read and is temporarily stored in a predetermined area of the RAM 58 (step 201). Further, the control circuit 50 reads the read signal strength Vo from the oldest data in the FIFO memory 61, that is, to in FIG. 6 (step 202). Then, in the control circuit 50, the temporarily stored signal strength V is
The CPU 56 sets the read signal strength Vi at time ti as the FIFO memory 6
It is written to 1 (step 203). Next, the control circuit 50
In the CPU, the CPU 56 uses the program of the ROM 57 to set the difference between the previous time and the current time as ΔT, and the slope thereof as θ, where θ = (V ₀ −V / ΔT) in the following equation, which is the first equation above. Is calculated to obtain θ (step 204).

Next, in the control circuit 50, the CPU 56 extends the inclination θ, and performs a calculation process as to whether the extended line intersects with a predetermined reference value H within a certain period T (step 205). Then,
In the control circuit 50, when the CPU 56 determines that the extension line of the inclination θ does not intersect with the predetermined reference value H within the constant period T, for example, at the time difference ΔT ₁ in FIG. 7 (step 206). , Ends the process without doing anything. On the other hand, in the control circuit 50, the CPU 56 controls the time difference ΔT _{2 in} FIG. 7, for example.
When it is determined that the extension line of the inclination θ intersects with the predetermined reference value H within the constant period T (step 20).
6), an alarm is issued (step 207), and the process ends.

If the control circuit 50 determines by the timer of the CPU 56 that the fixed time (fixed day) has not elapsed, other processing is executed (step 210).

Since the operation is performed in this manner, it can be known that the magnetic card reading / writing device is in a defective state before it becomes unreadable.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the difference between the past read signal strength and the present read signal strength is calculated, and based on this, it can be predicted that the area near the unreadable area will be reached within a predetermined period. Therefore, it can be determined that the magnetic card reading / writing device is defective according to the actual usage state,
This has the effect of notifying this.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is a perspective view showing a vending machine to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a view showing a magnetic card used in the same embodiment, FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the vending machine, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram showing a magnetic card reading / writing device, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a control circuit used in the magnetic card reading / writing device, and FIG.
FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing a FIFO memory, FIG. 7 is a waveform diagram showing how the read signal intensity read by the read magnetic head of the magnetic card read / write device decreases with time, and FIG.
The figure is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the embodiment. 1 ... Vending machine, 19 ... Magnetic card reader / writer, 50
...... Control circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A magnetic card reading / writing apparatus capable of reading information on a magnetic card obtained by prepayment and writing necessary information on the magnetic card, and a reading signal strength of a reading head before a certain time and a current reading current. The magnetic card read / write is characterized in that the difference between the read signal strength of the read head and the read signal strength is obtained, and an alarm is issued when the extension line of the tilt reaches a certain reference value within a predetermined period. Device alarm system.