JPH07200753A - Card processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To return the balance of a prepaid card for which a reduction amount processing is performed by a card processor to the balance before a previous transaction. CONSTITUTION:When a transaction of amount which is higher than Yen300 is performed in a prepaid card where the balance before the transaction is Yen300, a card processor rewrites the balance area 44 of the card to Yen0 as shown in (a), writes the reduction amount (Yen300) in the transaction history area 43 of the card, sets 1 to the relief flag area 42 and returns this card. When this prepaid card is inserted after a prescribed relief start card is inserted, the amount recorded in the transaction history area 43 is written in the balance area 44 shown in (c), the transaction history area 43 and the relief flag area 42 are rewritten to 0 and the balance of this prepaid card is returned to the balance before the transaction of the previous time.

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 subtracts a transaction amount from balance information of a prepaid card and records the result as new balance information on a card.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Prepaid cards are widely used for public telephones, various vehicles, shopping, etc.
In these facilities, card processing devices are installed so that transactions with prepaid cards are possible.

When a prepaid card is inserted, the card processing device reads the remaining amount recorded on the card, deducts the transaction amount from the remaining amount, and the result of the deduction is used as a new remaining amount of the card. You can pay the fee by writing in.

By the way, in such a transaction using a prepaid card, a prepaid card having a balance smaller than the transaction amount may be inserted into the card processing device. Conventionally, there has been a card processing device capable of accepting the addition of the second and subsequent cards and adjusting the transaction amount from the remaining amount of a plurality of prepaid cards for such a card with insufficient remaining amount.

In the conventional card processing device capable of settlement by adding such a card, when the remaining amount of the first card is less than the transaction amount, the uncollected amount obtained by subtracting the remaining amount of the card from the transaction amount is stored. Then, after rewriting the remaining amount of the card to zero, returning the card, comparing the remaining amount of the second inserted prepaid card with the uncollected amount, and if this remaining amount is less than the uncollected amount , The uncollected amount is updated by subtracting the remaining amount of this card from the uncollected amount, and the process of returning the card after zeroing the remaining amount of this card is repeated. Then, when a card with a balance of more than the uncollected amount is inserted, the balance of the card is updated with the result of subtracting the uncollected amount from the remaining amount of the card,
Complete the settlement for the transaction amount. By this processing, it becomes possible to use a plurality of prepaid cards with a small remaining amount. The addition of this card is usually restricted to a predetermined number.

[0006]

However, in the conventional card processing device that accepts addition of a card as described above, even if all the prepaid cards owned by a customer are inserted, the transaction amount cannot be reached and , If you request to cancel the transaction or pay the transaction amount in cash, it is inconvenient that the installer side of this prepaid card must repay the collected amount in cash for the prepaid card that has already collected the remaining amount. There was

Further, even if the transaction is completed with one prepaid card, even when the customer requests the return of the product, the remaining amount information of the card has already been rewritten, so the transaction amount is still the same. There was the inconvenience of having to repay the customer's cash.

It is an object of the present invention to solve this problem and to provide a card processing device for prepaid card users so that they do not have to pay back cash.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the card processing device of the present invention reads the remaining amount information of the prepaid card to be inserted, and subtracts the transaction amount or a part thereof from the remaining amount. In a card processing device that rewrites the remaining amount information of the card, when rewriting the remaining amount information of the prepaid card, the remaining amount before rewriting or an amount subtracted from the remaining amount is recorded in a predetermined transaction history area as transaction history information of the card. With respect to the transaction information writing means and the prepaid card inserted after a predetermined rescue start operation is performed, the balance information recorded on the card is converted into the transaction history information recorded on the transaction history area of the card. Based on the remaining amount information of the card before the previous transaction, and the remaining amount remedy means for rewriting the transaction history information of the card to zero. To have.

[0010]

With this configuration, in the card processing device of the present invention, when the remaining amount of the prepaid card is reduced and rewritten, the remaining amount before rewriting or the amount subtracted from this remaining amount is stored in the transaction history area of the card. It is recorded as information. Then, when the prepaid card is inserted after the prescribed relief activation operation is performed, the remaining amount information recorded on that card is based on the transaction history information recorded in the transaction history area, and the remaining amount before the previous transaction is performed. It is rewritten with information, and the transaction history information is rewritten with zero.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the external appearance of a card processing device 20 of one embodiment. The card processing apparatus 20 is arranged near each food in the employee cafeteria, and a person who takes a favorite food inserts a prepaid card into the card processing apparatus near the food, It is for paying the amount of food with the balance of the card.

A card insertion slot 22 is provided on the front surface of a housing 21 of the card processing apparatus 20, and an OK lamp 24 which is turned on when a proper processing is performed on the insertion card is provided on the upper surface side thereof. In addition to the shortage lamp 25 that lights up when a balance shortage occurs and the NG lamp 26 that lights up when a card is not properly read, request addition of a card when a balance shortage occurs Additional key 27 to be operated when making a transaction and Cancel key 28 to be operated when requesting cancellation of a transaction when a balance shortage occurs
Is provided.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, inside the card processing device 20, a card carrying mechanism 31 for pulling in or ejecting the card inserted from the card insertion port 22 and a card carrying mechanism 31. Read / write circuit 32 for reading and writing magnetic information to and from the card drawn by the card, a thermal printer 33 for printing on the surface of the card, conveyance control for the inserted card, read / write control for magnetic information, and print control Also, a control unit 34 having a microcomputer configuration for controlling lighting of each lamp and detecting key operation is provided.

The control unit 34 has two types of processing modes, a transaction mode in which the transaction amount is settled from a prepaid card and a relief mode activated by inserting a relief activation card 50 described later.

FIG. 3 shows a prepaid card 40 used in this cafeteria system. Prepaid card 4
On the magnetic recording surface 40a of 0, a company code area 41 for recording the issuing company code, a relief flag area 42 for recording a relief flag, a transaction history area 43 for recording a transaction history amount, a card A balance area 44 for recording the balance and a position information area 45 for recording position information indicating the print position on the card surface are provided.
The relief flag and the initial value of the transaction history amount at the time of issuing the prepaid card are both zero. The opposite surface of the prepaid card 40 is subjected to a heat-sensitive treatment that discolors due to heat so that printing with a thermal type prepaid card is possible.

FIG. 4 shows the rescue activation card 50. A predetermined relief activation code is recorded on the relief activation card 50. In addition, this rescue activation card 50
Is used by a clerk in the cafeteria, etc. when requested by a customer.

FIG. 5 shows the control unit 34 of the card processing device 20.
The processing procedure of is shown. The operation of the card processing apparatus 20 will be described below based on this flowchart.

First, the amount of food collected by the card processing apparatus 20 is substituted into A (S1). Then, when the card is inserted into the card insertion slot 22, the card is pulled into the inside of the apparatus by the transport mechanism 31, the magnetic information is read, and whether the card is a prepaid card or not is read by the read information. Is determined (S2-5).

When the inserted card is a prepaid card, it is determined whether or not the balance information is A or more. If the balance is not insufficient, the OK lamp 24 is turned on and A is subtracted from the balance. The subtraction result is magnetically recorded on the card as a new balance (S6-8). Then, the new balance is printed at a position corresponding to the print position information recorded on the card, the print position information is rewritten to the print position information corresponding to the next print position, and then the card is ejected ( S9-11).

When the remaining amount of the prepaid card is less than A, the shortage lamp 25 is turned on to display that the remaining amount is insufficient, and it is confirmed that this shortage determination is not repeated N times (for example, 5 times). After the confirmation, the customer waits for the operation of the add key or the cancel key (S12 to 15). When the customer operates the cancel key 28, the card is ejected, and when the additional key 27 is operated, the amount A
The result of subtracting the remaining amount of this card from is set to A as the uncollected amount (S16).

Then, the balance of this card is recorded in the transaction history area, the relief flag is set to 1, and the balance of the card is rewritten to zero (S17-19). Further, the rewritten new balance (zero) is printed at a position corresponding to the print position information, the print position information is updated to the next position, and then the card is ejected (S20-22).

By the processing for the card with insufficient balance, the remaining amount (300 yen) before insertion is recorded as the transaction history amount on the magnetic recording surface of the card 40, for example, as shown in FIG. 6 (a). Then, the remaining amount is rewritten to 0 yen, the relief flag is set to 1, and at the position corresponding to, for example, P (n) on the printing surface of this card, as shown in (b) of FIG. After the balance of ¥ 300, ¥ 0 is printed. The print position information is changed from P (n) to P
It is updated to (n + 1).

When the customer who receives this card inserts a second prepaid card in order to make up for the shortage, the remaining amount of the card is compared with the uncollected amount A, and if the remaining amount is A or more, it is mentioned above. Settlement is performed according to the processes S7 to S11.

If the uncollected amount cannot be settled even with the second card, the remaining amount of this card is magnetically recorded as the transaction history amount and the card remaining amount is rewritten to zero in accordance with the above-described steps S12 to S22. , The balance after rewriting is printed. Then, when the Nth (for example, the fifth) prepaid card is inserted and the remaining amount of the card is insufficient for the uncollected amount, a notification (not shown) such as a buzzer sound is made and the card is Will be returned.

Here, when the customer who receives the Nth card returned requests to change to cash payment, the clerk inserts the rescue activation card 50 into the card processing device 20. When it is determined in step S23 that the rescue activation card 50 has been inserted, the card processing device 20 ejects the card, enters the rescue mode, and waits for the insertion of a prepaid card (S23).
~ 25).

When the prepaid card 40 shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B is inserted, the card is pulled in, the information is read, and it is determined whether the relief flag is 1 ( S26-28).

When the relief flag is judged to be 1, the OK lamp 24 is turned on, and as shown in FIG. 6C, the remaining amount 0 yen of this card is the amount recorded in the transaction history area (that is, The card balance before the last transaction) is rewritten to 300 yen (S29, 30). Then, the transaction history amount and the relief flag are rewritten to 0 (S31).

Then, as shown in FIG. 6 (d), the balance of the card, which has been returned to the original amount by this relief processing, is printed on the printing surface of the card 40, and the printing position information indicates the next position P. After being updated to (n + 2), this card is ejected (S32-34). When the inserted card is neither a prepaid card nor a rescue activation card, or when a card in which the rescue flag is not 1 in the rescue mode is inserted, the NG lamp 26 is turned on and the card is ejected (S35).

In this way, the customer who received the card whose balance has been salvaged remains (N) by inserting the salvage activation card.
-2 cards) can be rescued one by one. Thus, the customer who receives the relief of the balance of the card pays the amount of the food in cash or stops the purchase. Since the transaction history information of the prepaid card that has once received the relief is 0, it is not possible to continue the relief.

The relief for the prepaid card is as follows:
It can be performed without inserting cards up to the Nth sheet. That is, the customer has, for example, only one prepaid card with insufficient balance, and without noticing the lack of balance,
Even when the card is inserted into a card processing device and the balance of the card is rewritten to zero and returned, if the customer requests, a rescue activation card is inserted and the balance of this card is returned to the original balance. Can be returned.

[0031]

[Other Embodiments] In the above embodiment, the transaction balance information is recorded for the prepaid card in which the remaining amount of the card is less than the transaction amount or the uncollected amount and all the remaining amount is collected, and the remaining amount of this card is recorded. Although it has been prepared for the rescue, the transaction history information may be recorded on the card even when the transaction is carried out in the state where the remaining amount is not insufficient.

By doing so, even if the return of the product is requested after the settlement with the prepaid card is completed, if the rescue activation card 50 is inserted and then the prepaid card is inserted, the card remaining amount is traded last time. You can return to the previous balance.

In such a case, the transaction history information updated and recorded on the card for each transaction may be the card balance before rewriting or the transaction amount at that time. If you want to record the card balance before rewriting as transaction history information, write the amount in the transaction history area as it is at the time of relief, and record the previous transaction amount as transaction history information. The total of the amount of money in the area and the balance of the card may be written in the balance area as a new card balance.

FIG. 7 shows an example in which the transaction amount is recorded as transaction history information, and when the prepaid card 40 having a balance of 800 yen before the transaction is settled for 300 yen, the card is As shown in FIG. 7A, the processing device records the transaction amount of 300 yen in the transaction history area, and records the remaining amount of 500 yen after the transaction in the balance area.

When the card is requested to be relieved, the card processing device adds the transaction history amount of 300 yen and the remaining amount of 500 yen, as shown in FIG.
Rewrite the balance of the card with 00 yen to make the transaction history amount 0 yen. Then, as shown in (c) of FIG. 7, the remaining amount after repair of 800 yen is printed on the printing surface of this card. In this case, it is necessary to perform the relief process on the prepaid card whose relief flag is 0. This is to use the above-mentioned rescue activation card for the rescue of the lacking card.
Separately, a rescue card that can be rescued after a normal transaction is prepared, and when this card is inserted, the flag determination process (S28) of the card processing device may not be performed.

Further, in the above embodiment, the rescue mode of the card processing device is activated by a dedicated rescue activation card possessed by a clerk or the like to prevent misuse by the customer. Instead, the operation may be performed by a key-type switch, various wireless remote controls, or an operation of inputting a personal identification code using a key.

[0037]

As described above, in the card processing device of the present invention, when the remaining amount of the inserted prepaid card is reduced and rewritten, the remaining amount before rewriting or the amount reduced from the remaining amount is used as transaction history information. For a prepaid card that is recorded on this card and inserted after a prescribed rescue activation operation is performed, the remaining amount recorded on that card is calculated based on the transaction history information recorded on that card before the last transaction. The transaction history information is rewritten to zero as well as the remaining amount.

Therefore, a prepaid card in which the balance of the card has been rewritten to zero due to a shortage of the balance or a prepaid card in which the balance has been reduced by a regular transaction can be returned to the balance before the transaction at the request of the customer. It is possible to avoid cash repayment from the person installing the card processing device to the customer.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of a card processing device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an internal configuration diagram of a card processing device according to one embodiment

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a prepaid card used in a card processing device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a rescue activation card used in a card processing device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a control unit according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing information recorded on a balance shortage card and information after balance relief.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing information recorded on a card whose balance has been relieved according to another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 20 Card Processing Device 22 Card Insertion Port 31 Card Conveying Mechanism 32 Read / Write Circuit 33 Printer 34 Control Unit 40 Prepaid Card 50 Relief Activation Card

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] March 29, 1994

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be corrected] Drawing

[Correction target item name] All drawings

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Figure 1]

[Fig. 2]

[Figure 3]

[Figure 4]

[Figure 6]

[Figure 7]

[Figure 5]

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A card processing device that reads the balance information of an inserted prepaid card and rewrites the balance information of the card by the result of subtracting the transaction amount or a part thereof from the balance, in the balance information of the prepaid card. At the time of rewriting, a transaction information writing means for recording the remaining amount before rewriting or the amount subtracted from the remaining amount in a predetermined transaction history area as transaction history information of the card, and a prepaid card inserted after a predetermined relief start operation is performed. For the card, the balance information recorded in the card is rewritten to the balance information before the previous transaction of the card based on the transaction history information recorded in the transaction history area of the card, and A card processing device, comprising: a residual amount remedy means for rewriting transaction history information to zero.