JPH0697457B2 - Card refueling system - Google Patents

Description

Description: (a) Technical Field The present invention relates to a card refueling system using a refueling card that stores a gasoline amount (oil amount) for which a charge has been paid in advance.

(B) Summary of the Invention Does the card refueling system according to the present invention operate the transaction processing device at a gas station (gas station) in a card non-hold mode in which a refueling card received is pre-processed and then temporarily discharged during refueling? , Or, it is possible to arbitrarily set whether to operate in the card hold mode in which the pre-processing and post-processing are performed continuously while holding the refueling card that has been received, and the transaction processing device is used by processing in the card non-hold mode. It is possible to set whether to improve the efficiency or to improve the reliability of the processing by processing in the card hold mode according to the installation environment of each gas station.

(C) Background of the Invention A card refueling system using a refueling card is currently proposed as a refueling system using a card.
The refueling card used in this system is a card in which the customer pays a certain amount of gasoline equivalent in advance and stores the amount of oil as the amount of remaining oil. In a refueling system using this refueling card, pre-processing such as card authentication and card data buffering is performed when refueling is started, and after refueling, the remaining oil amount is rewritten to a value obtained by subtracting the current refueling amount. Post-processing is performed.

A gas station is equipped with a weighing machine that refuels automobiles and measures the amount of refueling, and an external reader / writer that accepts a refueling card received from a customer by a clerk. An installed reader / writer and a POS terminal device installed in a gas station store and controlling the weighing machine and an external reader / writer constitute a transaction processing device.). The clerk inserts the refueling card received from the customer into the external reader / writer to perform preprocessing, selects the weighing machine, and refuels the customer's car or the like with the weighing machine. After this refueling, the external reader / writer performs post-processing on the customer's refueling card.

By the way, in a general gas station, a larger number of weighing machines are installed than an external reader / writer, and one external reader / writer is configured to handle transaction processing of a plurality of weighing machines. There is. In order to improve the processing efficiency of refueling transactions at a gas station with such a configuration, one external leader /
It is necessary for the writer to process transactions for multiple weighing machines at the same time. Therefore, the external reader / writer ejects the refueling card inserted at the start of refueling after the pretreatment and then temporarily ejects it during refueling, and accepts reinsertion for posttreatment after the refueling is completed. There has been proposed a card non-hold mode system capable of accepting refueling by another weighing machine during refueling of one weighing machine.

However, in the card non-hold mode system, the refueling card that has undergone preprocessing is discharged from the external reader / writer, so at a gas station that receives many refueling cards from customers at the same time, the refueling card before preprocessing It is not easy to distinguish between the refueling card that has been processed and that has not been processed and the refueling card that has been processed, and there is a risk that the clerk may erroneously process the refueling card.

On the other hand, in a card hold mode system that continuously performs pre-processing and post-processing with the refueling card inserted in the external reader / writer, the processing is reliable, but the external reader / writer has only one weighing machine. There is a drawback in that the processing efficiency of refueling transactions decreases because only the management of

For this reason, operating all the gas stations operated by the card fueling system by the same method would rather confuse the transactions at each gas station.

(D) Object of the invention In view of the above situation, the present invention enables the transaction processing device of a gas station to be operated in a card non-hold mode or a card hold mode, and can be installed at each gas station. It is an object of the present invention to provide a card refueling system that enables an environment-friendly operation.

(E) Configuration and effect of the invention The invention is configured as follows.

A refueling card having a remaining oil amount storage area in which the amount of oil corresponding to the amount paid in advance is first stored is issued to the customer.

Each refueling station that performs refueling performs pre-processing including a process of receiving the refueling card at the start of refueling and reading the remaining oil amount stored in the remaining oil amount storage area, and the remaining oil amount after refueling is completed. A transaction processing device is installed which performs post-processing including a process of calculating a new residual oil amount by subtracting the refueling amount from the above and rewriting the residual oil amount storage area with the new residual oil amount.

In such a system, the transaction processing apparatus is provided with a card non-hold mode for temporarily discharging the received refueling card between the preprocessing and the postprocessing, and preprocessing and postprocessing for the received refueling card. It is characterized in that a mode selection means for selecting a card hold mode to be continuously performed is provided.

According to the present invention configured as described above, the card non-hold mode and the card hold mode can be selected for each transaction processing device (fueling station), so that the processing efficiency of the refueling transaction must be emphasized. It is possible to eliminate mistakes in the refueling card by operating in the card hold mode at gas stations where the card non-hold mode is used for quick transaction processing at certain stations and reliable transaction processing is required. As a result, it is possible to adopt an operation method suitable for the installation environment of each gas station.

Further, in a gas station having a transaction processing device configured to include a plurality of external readers / writers, a card non-hold mode or a card non-hold mode can be selected for each external reader / writer. Even within one gas station, it is possible to distinguish the operation mode according to the customer, the content of the oil supply, etc., and more ideal operation can be performed.

(F) Embodiment Configuration of Card Refueling System FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a card refueling system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This system has multiple gas stations A
It is composed of one center B and a refueling card carried by the customer (see FIG. 4). A POS terminal 1 is installed in the store of the gas station A, and outside the store for refueling, there are a plurality of external reader / writers 2, 2 ′ that are terminal devices for refueling staff operation and a plurality of weighing machines 3 for measuring the refueling amount. The stand is installed. these
POS terminal 1, external reader / writer 2, 2'and weighing machine 3
Corresponds to the transaction processing apparatus of the present invention. Two external readers / writers 2, 2 ′ are installed in the fueling station A as described above, and a plurality of weighing machines 3 exceeding two are installed.

The POS terminal device 1 is a device for controlling the external reader / writers 2, 2'and the weighing machine 3 in the store and communicating with the center B. Inside the device, a CPU 5 is a control device.
And ROM that is connected to this CPU5 and stores programs etc.
6, RAM7 where card data buffer etc. are set, control keyboard 8, display 9, card reader / writer 10 which reads / writes control data, printer 11 which prints totals, transaction data file A floppy disk 12 to be set, a communication control unit 13 for communicating with the center B via a line, and a weighing machine controller 1 for controlling the weighing machine 3
An interface 15 for controlling 4 and the external reader / writer 2, 2'is installed.

On the other hand, in the center B, a center computer which is a control device
16 and the center computer 16
Communication controller 17 for communicating with the terminal device 1, storage device 18 in which a master file is set, printer 19, and display 2
0 is set. The master file stores the sales status of each gas station A, the usage status of all the fuel cards issued, and the like. This master file is updated with the transaction data file.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the structure of the refueling card 4. This refueling card is sold at the above-mentioned refueling station A or the like, and is sold at a price substantially the same as the amount of refuelable oil. For example, a refueling card that can refuel 200 for 200 minutes of gasoline is sold.

FIG. 1A is an external view of the refueling card 4, in which the card number, the amount of remaining oil, etc. are recorded on the card surface.
40 and a print field 41 for printing the history of refueling with this refueling card are set.

FIG. 2B is a partial configuration diagram of the magnetic stripe 40. The magnetic stripe 40 has a card number (area 40a) that is the issue number of this refueling card, an expiration date of the card (area 40b), an oil type (area 40c), and an amount of remaining oil (area 40).
d) is recorded. The oil type indicates the type of regular gasoline, high octane gasoline, diesel diesel oil, etc. and is coded and recorded. The amount of remaining oil is the number of liters of oil that can be refueled with this refueling card, and the face value (for example, 200) is recorded when the card is purchased. This refueling card is inserted into the external reader / writer 2 or 2'each time refueling is performed at the refueling station A, and the refueling amount is subtracted from the remaining oil amount. Area 40e is an unprocessed flag. This unprocessed flag is set in order to store that the reprocessing is unprocessed when the refueling card 4 is inserted into the card reader / writer 21 of the external reader / writer 2, 2'and preprocessed. It is what is done. When the refueling card 4 with this unprocessed flag set is inserted into the external reader / writer operating in the card non-hold mode, the external reader / writer
Writer (PO that received a signal from this external reader / writer
S terminal device) automatically selects post-processing. After this, when the refueling card 4 undergoes post-processing, this unprocessed flag is reset.

In the print field 41, the card number, the issue date, the expiration date, the amount of face oil, etc. are printed at the time of issuing the card, and the date, the amount of oil supplied, and the amount of residual oil are printed for each oil supply. In the printing by the external reader / writer 2, 2 ', only the date is printed during the pre-processing, and the amount of oil supply and the amount of residual oil are printed during the post-processing.

FIG. 3 is an external view of the external reader / writer 2. An operator's operation panel is installed on the front of the device. This operation panel surface has a display 25, a keyboard 22, a printer 23,
Card reader / writer 21 for receiving the refueling card 4
And a card reader 24 is installed that scans conventional credit refueling cards. The keyboard 22 is
Weighing machine selection key 220 to select the weighing machine, product selection key 221 to enter the sales product, ten keypad 222 to manually enter the sales quantity
And a function key 223 for setting an operation mode. The function key 223 is a HOLD key 223a for selecting the card hold mode as the operation mode of the external reader / writer 2 and a NON HOLD key 2 for selecting the card non-hold mode.
Includes a mode selection key consisting of 23b. The external reader / writer 2'has the same structure.

FIG. 5 is a partial configuration diagram of the RAM 7. Of these, areas M1 to M5 represent input / output buffers. When the refueling card is inserted into the card reader / writer 21 of the external reader / writer 2, the card data is stored in this input / output buffer via the interface 15. The input / output buffer is a card number storage area (area M1: hereinafter, "area Mi" is called "Mi"), expiration date storage area (M2), oil type storage area (M3), remaining oil amount storage area (M4) And corresponds to the stored contents of the magnetic stripe 40 of the card 4. The refueling amount storage area (M5) is an area for storing the refueling amount sent from the weighing machine 3 that measures the refueling amount. A new residual oil amount is calculated by subtracting this oil supply amount from the residual oil amount stored in the residual oil amount storage area (M4), and this new residual oil amount is stored again in the area M4. With this data, the residual oil amount data (area 40d) of the magnetic stripe 40 of the refueling card 4 inserted in the card reader / writer 21 is updated.

Areas M10 and M11 are card hold mode flags set when the card hold mode is selected by the external reader / writers 2 and 2 ', respectively.

Operation of Card Refueling System First, the clerk presses either the HOLD key 223a or the NON HOLD key 223b to select the operation mode. The mode selected by this operation is stored in the card hold mode flag (M10, M11) of the POS terminal device 1.

At the time of refueling with the refueling card 4, the clerk who receives the refueling card of the customer inserts the refueling card into the card reader / writer 21 and sets the weighing machine 3 for refueling to the weighing machine selection key 220.
Press to select.

When the card non-hold mode is selected in this external reader / writer, the refueling card 4 is once discharged after this operation, and another refueling card can be accepted while refueling by one weighing machine, Enable to start refueling with a weighing machine. This allows one external reader /
A plurality of weighing machines 3 can be managed by the writers 2, 2 '. When the refueling card 4 is reinserted after refueling is completed,
Along with the slip printing, the magnetic stripe 40 on the refueling card 4
The data stored in is updated and the printing in the printing column 41 is performed.

On the other hand, when the card hold mode is selected, the refueling card is not discharged once as described above, and the above processing is performed with the refueling card still inserted.

The discharged slip and refueling card 4 are handed to the customer by the staff, and the transaction is completed.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control unit of the POS terminal device 1. FIG. 3B shows an interrupt operation when the transaction mode is selected by the external reader / writer 2 or 2 '. This operation is performed as an interrupt operation during the waiting routine of the transaction processing operation shown in FIG. When the mode selection key is pressed on either the external reader / writer 2, 2 ', this operation starts, and step n30
(Hereinafter, step ni is simply referred to as ni.), It is determined whether the mode selection key pressed in n31 is the HOLD key 223a or the NONHLOD key 223b. If the pressed mode selection key is the HOLD key 223a, proceed to n32 by the judgment of n30,
The card hold mode flag (M10 or M1) corresponding to the external reader / writer 2 or 2'is set and the process returns. Also, the pressed mode selection key is NONHOL
If it is the D key 223b, the process proceeds to n33 by the determination of n31, resets the card hold mode flag (M10 or M11) corresponding to the external reader / writer 2 or 2 ', and returns.

FIG. 7A is a flowchart showing the transaction processing operation. In n1, it is determined whether the refueling card 4 is inserted into the card reader / writer 21 of the external reader / writer 2 or 2 ', or in n17, the process waits until a refueling completion signal is received from the weighing machine 3. n1 and n17 form a wait routine.

If the refueling card 4 is inserted into the external reader / writer 2 or 2'and the operation proceeds to n2 or less according to the judgment of n1, the data of the magnetic stripe 40 of the refueling card 4 inserted is read (n2) and the expiration date is reached. (Area 40b), Residual oil amount (Area 40d)
It is determined whether the card is a valid card or not (n3). At this time, the unprocessed flag (area 40e) is also referred to at the same time to judge whether or not the preprocessing is completed (n4). The operation of n4 is an operation for determining the reinsertion of the refueling card that has been discharged after finishing the preprocessing when operating in the card non-hold mode. These data are input / output buffers (M1 ~
It is stored in M4) and is distinguished from the buffering data of other refueling cards by the card number. If it is a valid card and the unprocessed flag is not set, it is judged that this refueling card 4 has been inserted for the preprocessing of the refueling start.
Proceed to the preprocessing operation of n5 or less.

At n5, the selection of the weighing machine 3 by pressing the weighing machine selection key 220 is accepted, and a refueling permission signal is output to the weighing machine 3 selected at n5 via the weighing machine controller 14 (n6). Next, the unprocessed flag (area 40e) of the inserted refueling card 4 is set (n7), the refueling date is printed in the print field 41 on the card surface (n8), and then the external reader / writer 2 Alternatively, the card hold mode flag (M10 or n11) corresponding to 2'is determined (n9). If the card hold mode flag is set, it is a card hold mode in which pre-processing and post-processing are continuously performed while accepting the refueling card, and therefore the process returns to the standby routine. If the card hold mode flag is reset, the refueling card is discharged during refueling, so the refueling card 4 is discharged (n10) and the process returns to the standby routine. Cards judged to be invalid by n3 are directly ejected (n11). If the refueling card is ejected at n10, until the refueling card is reinserted for post-processing,
The external reader / writer 2 or 2'can accept another refueling card.

On the other hand, the unprocessed flag (area
40e) is set by n4,
The inserted refueling card is one that has been subjected to the above-mentioned pre-processing operation during operation in the card non-hold mode, once ejected, and then re-inserted for post-processing. At this time, the operation is n12
When it is judged that the refueling by the selected weighing machine 3 is completed, the process proceeds to (n12). Proceed to post-processing operation of n13 or less. If refueling is not completed, post-processing cannot be performed yet, and the refueling card 4 is directly ejected (n16) and the process returns to the standby routine.

In n13, remaining oil amount storage area of refueling card 4 (area 40d)
Is rewritten to the remaining oil amount storage area (M4: see n19 below) of the input / output buffer updated with the new remaining oil amount (n1
3). After this, print the amount of refueling and the amount of remaining oil in the printing column 41 (n
14), reset the unprocessed flag (area 40e) (n1
5), eject the refueling card 4 (n16).

When the refueling completion signal is received from the weighing machine in n17, the refueling amount is stored in the refueling amount storage area (M5) of the input / output buffer for the corresponding refueling card (n19), and is stored in the area M4 of the buffer. The new amount of residual oil is calculated by subtracting this amount of oil supply from the amount of residual oil (n20). After storing the new residual oil amount in the area M4 again, the sales slip is printed (n21). After this, refer to the card hold mode flag (M10 or M11) of the external reader / writer 2 or 2'which selected this weighing machine 3, and if it is set, proceed to n13 directly because it is continuous processing, and install it externally. Post-process the refueling card that is still inserted in the reader / writer. If the card hold mode flag is reset, the process returns to the standby routine.

Correspondence with claims and effects of the embodiment The HOLD key 223a, NONHLOD key 223b, card hold mode flags M10, M11 and the operation shown in FIG. 1B correspond to the mode selecting means of the present invention.

As described above, according to the card refueling system, the operation mode can be selected to the card non-hold mode or the card hold mode for each external reader / writer. As a result, all or part of the external reader / writer is installed in the card hold mode or the card non-hold mode according to the installation environment of the gas station (for example, the number of customers or the quality of customers) or the operation method. Can be operated optimally at the gas station.

In addition, in this system, an unprocessed flag is provided on the refueling card, the unprocessed flag is set after the completion of the preprocessing, and the unprocessed flag is reset after the completion of the postprocessing. By doing so, it is possible to determine the processing stage of the refueling card (whether it is before post-processing or after post-processing (pre-processing)), and the key-in for setting the pre-processing or post-processing when inserting the card. There is also an advantage that you can save time.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 (A) and 1 (B) are flow charts showing the operation of the POS terminal device installed at each gas filling station in the card filling system according to the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the card filling system. 3 and 4 are external views of an external reader / writer connected to the POS terminal device, and FIG.
(A) and (B) are views showing the appearance of the refueling card of the card refueling system and the structure of its magnetic stripe, and FIG. 5 is a partial block diagram of the RAM of the POS terminal device. A ... Gas station, B ... Center, 1 ... POS terminal device, 2, 2 '... External reader / writer, 3 ... Weighing machine, 4 ... Refueling card, 223a ... HOLD key, 223b ... … NON HOLD key.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A refueling card possessed by a customer and having a residual oil amount storage area in which an oil amount corresponding to an amount paid in advance is initially stored; and the refueling card installed at each refueling station at the start of refueling. And perform a pre-processing including a process of reading the residual oil amount stored in the residual oil amount storage area, and calculate a new residual oil amount by subtracting this oil supply amount from the residual oil amount after refueling. In a card refueling system having a transaction processing device that performs a post-processing including a process of rewriting the residual oil amount storage area to the new residual oil amount, the pre-processing and post-processing of the refueling card received in the transaction processing device. Mode selection means for selecting a card non-hold mode in which the refueling card is once discharged and a card hold mode in which pre-processing and post-processing are continuously performed on the received refueling card. Card refueling system, characterized in that was.