JPH07249107A - Optical detection structure in card reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain stable detection performance for a long period by forming a card guide member where a light emitting element is provided with a light transmissive member and protrusively forming a part where the light emitting element is provided in a card transportation path. CONSTITUTION:A cylinder part 27a is integrally formed at the lower surface of a dowel 27 which is slightly protrusively formed in the card transportation path 5 from the surface of a lower guide board 10. A light emitting diode 29 is stored in a stepwise hollow part 27b in the cylinder part 27a. The lower guide board 10 is formed by light transmissive resin, and light emitted from the light emitting diode 29 transmits the dowel 27 of the lower guide board 19 and is projected into the card transportation path 5. The former end part of the card traveling the card transportation path 5 is abutted on the dowel 27 which is protrusively formed, and it scrapes off dirt adhered to the surface of the dowel 27. Thus, the dowel 27 is self-cleaned by the card, and the transmission of the light-emitting diode 29 is always and satisfactorily held so as to prevent an optical, detection defect.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure for detecting the position of a card or the presence or absence of the card in a card reader with an optical sensor or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a general optical detection structure of this type, there is a structure in which a pair of a light emitting element and a light receiving element are arranged with a card conveyance path interposed therebetween. This is to provide a holder part for accommodating a light emitting element and a light receiving element in each of a pair of opposing card guide members forming a card transport path, and to form a transparent window on the opposing surface of each holder part, that is, the card transport surface. To do.

[0003]

However, in the above-described conventional optical detection structure, since the transmission window is formed, dust penetrates into the apparatus through the transmission window, which adversely affects electronic components and the like in the apparatus. There was such a problem. In particular, there was a problem on the side of the light emitting element having a large transmission window. Therefore, as a solution to this problem, there has been proposed a structure in which the light emitting element side is covered with a card guide plate made of a transparent resin. However, since the card guide plate forms the card conveyance path, dirt and the like attached to the card during conveyance adheres to the card guide plate, which causes a problem that stable detection performance cannot be obtained for a long period of time. It was

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an optical detection structure in a card reader capable of obtaining stable detection performance for a long period of time. .

[0005]

In order to achieve this object, an optical detection structure in a card reader according to the present invention has a card conveying path by a pair of card guide members facing each other with a gap corresponding to the thickness of the card. In the optical detection structure in the card reader in which the light emitting element and the light receiving element are arranged with the card conveying path sandwiched between them, the card guide member having the light emitting element is formed of a light transmissive member, and the light emitting element is The disposed portion is formed so as to project into the card transport path.

[0006]

According to the present invention, the front end of the card traveling on the card transport path is brought into contact with the projecting portion, and the dirt adhering to the surface of the projecting portion is scraped off.

[0007]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a sectional view of a card reader according to the present invention, FIG.
1 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a lower guide unit of the card reader according to the present invention, FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the same upper guide unit, and FIG. 5 is a plan view of the lower guide unit. FIG. 6 also shows a magnetic head, (a) is a perspective view, (b) is a sectional view taken along line VIb-VIb, and FIG.
Is a sectional view taken along the line IIV-IIV in FIG. 5, FIG. 8 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line VIII in FIG. 1, FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along the line IX-IX in FIG. 8, and FIG. 10 is a side plate viewed from the same side in FIG. FIG. 11 is an enlarged plan view of an essential part, FIG. 11 is an enlarged plan view of the rear end side of the card reader according to the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 3B is a side view showing the open / closed state of the upper guide unit.

In these figures, a card reader indicated by reference numeral 1 includes a lower guide unit 2 having a lower guide plate 10, a lower guide plate 10 and a card transport path 5.
Located on both side surfaces of the upper unit 3 and both units 2 and 3 having the upper guide plate 55 forming the
It is roughly configured by a pair of side plates 4 that regulate the width direction of the card transport path 5. The lower guide plate 10 is inclined so that the front end portion, that is, the card insertion port 8 side is located downward and the rear end portion is located upward, and both side surface portions 11 are attached to the both side plates 4 by screws 12. The lower guide unit 2 has a belt 18 for carrying the card 6, a pair of magnetic heads 22 for reading and writing magnetic data written on the card 6, and a punch for punching holes based on the contents written on the card 6. The unit 25 is provided and unitized.

That is, below the elongated notch 14 formed in the lower guide plate 10 in the card transport direction, four driving rollers 16a to 16d are freely rotatable along the longitudinal direction of the notch 14. These drive rollers 16 are pivotally supported.
A belt 18 is stretched over the a to 16 d and the tension roller 17 so that the upper portion thereof faces the inside of the card transport path 5 from the notch 14. Of the above-mentioned drive rollers, the drive roller 16a is rotationally driven in the forward and reverse directions via a belt or the like using a motor (not shown) as a drive source. In addition, a pair of magnetic heads 22 are provided in the reading portion 22a in a rectangular cutout 15 formed in one side portion of the center of the lower guide plate 10.
Is attached to the side plate 4 via a bracket (not shown) so as to face the inside of the card transport path 5. As shown in FIG. 6, the magnetic head 22 is held by a holder 21 having a fitting hole 22 a into which the magnetic head 22 is fitted and fixed, and mounted on a printed circuit board 23. At the center of the holder 21, which is entirely made of resin, the reflective sensor 2
4 is provided with a hollow portion 21b for accommodating the magnetic recording medium 4 and the transmission window 21 that is aligned with the reading position 22a of the magnetic head 22 is provided on the ceiling portion.
c is drilled. A notch 26 is provided at the tip of the lower guide plate 10.

Numerals 27 and 28 are dowels slightly projecting from the surface of the lower guide plate 10 into the card transport path 5.
As shown in FIG. 7, a tubular portion 27a is integrally formed on the lower surfaces of the dowels 27 and 28, and a light emitting diode 29 is housed in a stepped hollow portion 27b in the tubular portion 27a. In this embodiment, the lower guide plate 10 is made of a transparent resin, and the light emitted from the light emitting diode 29 is transmitted through the dowel 27 of the lower guide plate 10 and projected into the card transport path 5. On the front side of the notch 26, a front guide 30 is attached to both side plates 4 with a screw 31 so that the front guide 30 has substantially the same inclination as the lower guide plate 10. Reference numeral 32 is a magnetic head for detecting a pseudo card, which is attached to a through hole of the front guide 30 so that its tip projects into the card receiving passage 7 and detects whether magnetic data is written in the inserted card. .

The side plate 4 has a substantially triangular shape in a side view, the inclined end face 34 is folded back to form a folded-back portion 35, and the notch 3 extending over the folded-back portion 35 is formed on the front end side of the inclined end face.
6 is provided. In the central portion 2 of the folded-back portion 35, a pair of flat plate-shaped receiving portions 37 having holes 38 formed therein are formed so as to project outward. As shown in FIG. 10, the hole 38 has a fan-shaped small-diameter arc portion 38a facing each other and having an opening angle of about 90 °.
And a fan-shaped large-diameter circular arc portion 38b adjacent to the small-diameter circular arc portion 38a and having an opening angle of approximately 90 °, and a rectangular portion 38 interposed between the circular arc portions 38a and 38b.
It is formed by c. The line connecting the centers of the pair of holes 38 is
It coincides with the reading position 22a of the magnetic head 22.

On the rear end side of the inclined end face 34, a through hole 40a is formed.
Is provided with a protrusion 40, and the screw 12,
The cone-shaped convex portion 43 provided at the tip of the leaf spring 42 attached to the side plate 4 by the side plate 41 extends from the through hole 40a to the side plate 4.
Facing inside. The inclined end surface on the rear side of the protrusion 40 forms an engagement portion 44, and the shaft 4 is provided between the engagement portions 44.
5 is spanned by a screw 45a. 46 is screw 4
It is an engaging piece that is attached to the side plate 4 by 5a and has a tip protruding rearward of the side plate 4. A recess 47 is provided at the rear end of the engaging portion 44. Reference numeral 48 denotes a solenoid fixed to the side plate 4 via a bracket 49, and a shutter 5 having a plunger 48a arranged in the notch 26.
It is connected to the protruding end portion 50a of 0. Shutter 50
Is normally swingably supported so that the intake passage 7 is shut off as shown by the solid line in FIG. 1 and the intake passage 7 is opened when the solenoid 48 operates, as shown by the two-dot chain line.

The upper guide plate 55 constituting the upper guide unit 3 is provided with both side surface portions 56, has a substantially U-shaped cross section, and the opening side is covered with a cover 57 to form a hermetically sealed box. . The upper guide unit 3 includes a belt 6 that is in contact with the belt 18 described above.
2. A pinch roller 63 facing the magnetic head 22, a light receiving diode 67 facing the light emitting diode 29, and a pinch roller 69 facing the pseudo card detecting magnetic head 31 are provided.

That is, below the elongated notch 59 formed in the upper guide plate 55 in the card transport direction,
Four driven rollers 60a are provided along the longitudinal direction of the notch 59.
Through 60d are rotatably supported by these driven rollers 6
A belt 62 is stretched around the 0a to 60d and the tension roller 61 so that the upper portion thereof faces the inside of the card transport path 5 through the notch 59. In addition, the pinch roller 63 is inserted from the notches 63 and 68 formed in the upper guide plate 55.
And 68 are rotatably supported so as to face the card transport path 5. The rectangular small holes 65 and 66 formed in the upper guide plate 55 are provided corresponding to the dowels 27 and 28 of the lower guide plate 10. Below these small holes 65 and 66, the small holes 65 and 66 are As shown in 7, the hollow portion 65b
Is formed, and the light receiving diode 67 is housed in the hollow portion 65b. Reference numeral 70 is a recess into which the punch unit 25 is fitted, and 71 is a front end portion which forms the intake passage 7 together with the front guide 30.

Reference numeral 72 denotes a flat plate-shaped mounting portion corresponding to the receiving portion 37, which is formed at the lower end of the center of the side surface portion 56 so as to project outward, and has a hole 73 formed therein. As shown in FIG. 8, the shaft portion 74a of the knob 74 is inserted into the hole 73, and the pin 75 fixed to penetrate through the hole 73 at a right angle to the distal end portion of the shaft portion 74a restricts the removal from the hole 73. The springs 76 fitted between the mounting portions 72 are urged in the direction away from the mounting portions 72. 72a
On the lower surface of the mounting portion 72, at the edge of the hole 73, the receiving portion 3
7 is a pair of guide pieces that are formed in arcuate shapes and that face each other and that protrude at a position that corresponds to the large-diameter circular arc portion 38a of FIG.

Reference numeral 78 is a cutout 3 in the lower guide plate 10.
6 is a convex portion provided on the side surface portion 56 corresponding to 6, and 79 is an arcuate concave portion provided on the side surface portion 56 corresponding to the projection portion 43. Click holes 79a and 79b are provided at both end portions. It is arranged. Reference numeral 80 denotes a bearing portion integrally formed at the rear end portion of the upper guide plate 55, and has a U-shaped groove 81 extending in the width direction of the card transport path 5 having an opening 81a.
Reference numeral 82 denotes a pair of engaging members protruding outwardly on both sides of the lower end of the rear end portion of the upper guide plate 55. An engaging portion 82a having a horizontal surface and an engagement releasing portion 82b having an inclined surface are formed. Has been done.

Next, a method of assembling the upper guide unit in the magnetic card reader thus constructed will be described. First, the screw 45a is loosened and the engagement piece 46 is removed from the side plate 4. In this state, as shown in FIG. 12D, the upper unit 3 is moved in the direction of arrow A, that is, the opening angle α between the upper unit 3 and the lower unit 2.
Is about 180 ° and the U-shaped groove 81 is fitted into the shaft 45 from the opening 81a to rotatably support the upper unit 3 on the shaft 45. At this time, since the disengagement portion 82b of the engagement member 82 faces the engagement portion 44 of the side plate 4, the engagement member 82 does not engage with the engagement portion 44 and U
The groove 81 can be fitted into the shaft 45.

When the upper unit 3 is rotated around the shaft 45 so as to reduce the opening angle α and the upper unit 3 is fitted between the side plates 4, as shown in FIG. The mounting portion 72, the convex portion 78, and the engaging portion 82a of the engaging member 82 are in contact with the receiving portion 37, the notch 36, and the engaging portion 44 of the side plate 4, respectively. Due to this contact, the upper guide plate 55 of the upper unit 3 causes the lower guide plate 10 of the lower unit 2 to move.
On the other hand, since there is an interval corresponding to the thickness of the card 6, the card transport path 5 is formed. In the card carrying path 5 thus formed, the upper unit 3 is fitted between the side plates 4, and the side surface portion 56 of the upper unit 3 and the side plate 4 are fitted, so that the card carrying path 5 is substantially sealed. In this state, the invasion of dust is prevented, and the dust does not adhere to the card transport path 5 and the magnetic head 22. Therefore, the reading failure of the magnetic head 22 can be prevented. Also, at this time, the click hole 79 of the recess 79 of the upper guide plate 55 is
The convex portion 43 of the leaf spring 42 is fitted in b.

Next, as shown in FIG. 8, the knob 74 is pushed down against the spring 76, and the knob 74 is rotated counterclockwise as shown in FIG.
When sliding on the guide piece 72a so as to ride on 2a and further rotating the knob 74, the pin 75 engages with the end edge of the small-diameter circular arc portion 38a of the receiving portion 37, and FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the mounting portion 72 is mounted in close contact with the receiving portion 37 by the spring 76 and the pin 75. Since the mounting portion 72 mounted in this manner is arranged at the position corresponding to the reading position 22a of the magnetic head 22, even if the housing is bent or deformed, the pinch roller is attached to the magnetic head 22. 64 is constantly pressed, and the magnetic head 2 is caused by insufficient contact pressure of the card 6 to the magnetic head 22.
It is possible to prevent the reading failure in No. 2. Finally, the engagement piece 46 is attached to the side plate 4 with the screw 45a.

Next, the reading and writing operations of the card with the magnetic head in the magnetic card reader thus assembled will be described. When the card 6 is inserted through the card insertion opening 8 formed by the front guide 30 and the front end portion 71 of the upper guide plate 55, the pseudo card detecting magnetic head 31 causes the magnetic card 31 to write magnetic data such as a regular card or an IC card. Determine if it is a fake card. If it is a legitimate card, the judgment signal is sent to the solenoid 48,
The solenoid 48 operates to rotate the shutter 50 to the position indicated by the alternate long and two short dashes line as shown in FIG. 1 to open the take-in passage 7, so that the card 6 can be inserted into the card conveying path 5. The judgment signal of the magnetic head 31 is also sent to a motor (not shown), and the motor operates, so that the drive roller 16a starts to rotate, and accordingly, the belt 18 and the belt 62 run, and the card 6 becomes a belt. It is sandwiched between and taken into the card transport path 5.

On the other hand, when the magnetic head 31 determines that the dummy card is a pseudo card, the solenoid 48 does not operate, so that the shutter 50 keeps the intake passage 7 blocked and the pseudo card such as an IC card. It is prevented that the above-mentioned intrusion into the intake passage 7. Nevertheless,
When the IC card is forcibly pushed in, the intrusion of the card is detected by the optical detection means provided in the dowel 28, a detection signal is sent to the motor, the motor rotates in the reverse direction, and the pseudo card such as the IC card is inserted into the card insertion opening 8 Will be returned from. At this time, even if the pseudo card is an IC card that is thicker than the magnetic card, the lower guide plate 10 and the upper guide plate 55 that form the card transport path 5 are coupled by the knob 74 at a substantially middle portion of the card transport path 5. Since they are fixed in close contact, the upper guide plate 55 can be slightly separated from the lower guide plate 10 at the card insertion port 8 separated from the knob 74, which causes the IC card to jam. Instead, it is smoothly returned from the card insertion slot 8.

When the front end of the magnetic card 6 taken into the card transport path 5 as a regular card is located in the transmission window 21c, it is detected by the sensor 24, the reading by the magnetic head 22 is started, and the rear end is detected by the sensor 24. Then, the reading by the magnetic head 22 is completed. in this way,
Since the start and end of reading by the magnetic head 22 are performed by the sensor 24 integrated with the magnetic head 22 at a position that coincides with the reading position 22a of the magnetic head 22, an assembly and manufacturing error is removed and highly accurate detection is performed. Can be done. Further, since the sensor 24 is integrated, the sensor 24
Since the device can be downsized and the sensor cannot be arranged near the magnetic head 22 unlike the conventional case, it is necessary to install two sensors before and after the magnetic head. Therefore, the number of parts can be reduced.

The motor reversely rotates and the card 5 runs in the reverse direction, and when the rear end is detected by the sensor 24, the magnetic head 22 starts writing, and when the front end is detected by the sensor 24, the writing ends. . Since the card 5 that reciprocates around the magnetic head 22 as described above has the knob 74 that presses the belts 18 and 62 in contact with each other at a position corresponding to the magnetic head 22, the card 5 is moved forward and backward while sandwiching the magnetic head 22. The speed and the backward movement speed are constant, which reduces read failures in the magnetic head 22.

Card 6 written by magnetic head 22
Is detected by a sensor provided on the dowel 27, and a detection signal is sent to the punch unit 25 to punch holes in the card 6 according to the contents of writing. When the rear end of the card 6 projects from the card insertion port 8 and the front end of the card 6 is detected by the sensor 2 after the punch hole is confirmed by the sensor provided in the dowel 28, the rotation of the motor is stopped. While the card 6 is running in the card transport path 5, the front end or the rear end (during backward running) of the card 6 contacts the dowels 27, 28, and the dowel 2 is moved by the front end or the rear end of the card 6.
The dirt adhering to the surfaces of Nos. 7 and 28 is removed and self-cleaning is performed, so that the permeation performance of the lower guide plate 10 is not deteriorated.

Next, a method for removing the upper guide unit from the side plate will be described. First, the knob 74 is rotated from the state shown in FIG. 8B to fit the pin 75 into the rectangular portion 38c from the edge of the small-diameter arc portion 38a.
When the engagement between 5 and the receiving portion 37 is released, the upper guide unit 3 becomes rotatable about the shaft 45. Therefore, when the upper guide unit 3 is rotated about the shaft 45 by about 90 ° from the state shown in FIG. 12A, the engagement member 82 is immediately engaged with the engagement piece 46, as shown in FIG. As shown, the click hole 79a is fitted to the convex portion 43 of the leaf spring 42, a click feeling is obtained, and when the click hole 79a is further rotated, the engaging member 82 is engaged with the engaging piece 46 as shown in FIG. , The upper guide unit 3 maintains the opening angle α shown in the figure.

In this state, the opening 81a of the bearing 80 is formed.
Even if the shaft 45 is to be removed from the shaft 45, the engagement portion 82a of the engagement member 82 and the engagement portion 44 of the side plate 4 are engaged with each other, and the bearing portion 80 is prevented from coming off the shaft 45. Therefore, when performing maintenance and inspection for cleaning the inside of the card transport path 5 or the magnetic head 22 and the like, it is possible to perform at this opening angle. Further, when it is necessary to replace the upper guide unit 3, the engaging piece 46 is removed from the side plate 4, and the upper guide unit 3 is rotated to the position shown in FIG. In this state, the engagement portion 82a of the engagement member 82 and the engagement portion 44 of the side plate 4 are disengaged from each other, and the engagement release portion 82b and the concave portion 47 are opposed to each other. In the B direction, that is, the opening 81a of the bearing portion 80 is connected to the shaft 45.
The upper guide unit 3 can be removed from the side plate 4 by moving the upper guide unit 3 in the direction of pulling out from the side plate 4.

In this way, the upper guide unit 3 can be freely opened and closed with the lower guide unit 2, and the upper guide unit 3 is kept attached to the lower guide unit 2 until it is engaged with the engaging piece 46. Do not accidentally drop and damage the upper guide unit 3 during inspection. Further, since the unit can be removed by rotating it to a certain opening angle, the unit can be easily replaced, and the maintenance work can be performed in a short time without requiring skill.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, a card transport path is formed by a pair of card guide members facing each other with a gap corresponding to the thickness of the card, and the light emitting element and the light-emitting element are sandwiched across the card transport path. The light receiving element is arranged, the card guide member on which the light emitting element is arranged is formed of a light-transmissive member, and the portion on which the light emitting element is arranged is formed so as to project into the card conveying path. The front end of the running card comes into contact with the part where the protrusion is formed and scrapes off the dirt adhering to the surface of the part where the protrusion is formed. Therefore, this part is self-cleaned by the card and the transmission of the light emitting element is always good. The optical detection failure can be prevented.
In addition, since the protruding portion can be recognized as a dowel when viewed from the surface, it serves as a mark for a worker to be cleaned during maintenance and inspection, and has high practical value such as forgetting to forget cleaning.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a card reader according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a lower guide unit of the card reader according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an upper guide unit of the card reader according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a lower guide unit of the card reader according to the present invention.

6A and 6B show a magnetic head of a card reader according to the present invention, FIG. 6A is a perspective view, and FIG. 6B is a sectional view taken along line VIb-VIb.

7 is a sectional view taken along line IIV-IIV in FIG.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a portion VIII in FIG.

9 is a sectional view taken along line IX-IX in FIG.

10 is an enlarged view of a main part of a side plate viewed from the same side as FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 is an enlarged plan view of the rear portion of the card reader according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a side view of FIG. 11 showing the open / closed state of each upper guide unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Magnetic card reader, 2 ... Lower guide unit, 3
... upper guide unit, 4 ... side plate, 5 ... card transport path, 6 ... card, 7 ... card loading path, 8 ... card insertion port, 10 ... lower guide plate, 18 ... belt, 21c
... transmissive window, 22 ... magnetic head, 24 ... reflective sensor, 2
5 ... Punch unit, 27, 28 ... Dowel, 29 ... Light emitting diode, 37 ... Receiving part, 38 ... Hole, 44 ... Engaging part, 45
... Shaft, 46 ... Engaging piece, 48 ... Solenoid, 50 ...
Shutter, 55 ... Lower guide plate, 62 ... Belt, 6
4 ... Pinch roller, 67 ... Light receiving diode, 72 ... Attachment part, 74 ... Knob, 75 ... Pin, 78 ... Convex part, 80 ... Bearing part, 81a ... Opening part, 82 ... Engaging member, 82a ... Engaging part, 82b ... Engagement release section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A card transport path is formed by a pair of card guide members facing each other with a gap corresponding to the thickness of the card,
In the optical detection structure in the card reader in which the light emitting element and the light receiving element are arranged with the card transport path sandwiched therebetween, the card guide member in which the light emitting element is arranged is formed of a light transmissive member, and the light emitting element is arranged. An optical detection structure in a card reader, characterized in that a portion is formed so as to project into a card transport path.