JPH07249155A - Prepaid card processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a trouble caused by misunderstanding by printing on a card the amount of spent money or a remaining amount after the spending of this time with a special spending mark without printing by a card device without a printing function and displacing the spent amount on the card device by the card device without a printing function to inform a user of the skip of printing. CONSTITUTION:An amount spent this-time generation part 6 generates the amount spent by a prepaid card this time. A without-print spending total amount calculation part 7 calculates a without-print spending total amount when the card to handle is a print card. A without-print spending flag generation part 8 generates a without-pring spending flag when the card to handle is a print card. A remaining amount generation part 9 generates the remaining amount after the spending. A card information update part 10 writes a value generated by the spending total amount calculation part 7, the without-print spending flag generation part 8 and the remaining amount generation part 9 on the card by way of the magnetic head of a reader/writer unit 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a prepaid card (prepaid card) processing system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A prepayment card has data on the balance due to magnetic recording, etc., and it can be used until the balance reaches zero, starting with the amount issued, after being purchased in cash, without having to carry a small change. It is widely used due to the merit of being able to shop.

By the way, it is important for the user to know how much the balance of the prepaid card is, but since the magnetic balance data cannot be directly viewed, the balance is displayed by various methods. ing. As a typical one, there is one that indicates a guideline of the remaining amount depending on the punching position of the punch hole, and as one that has recently become popular, there is one that directly prints the remaining amount on the back surface of the card each time it is used. The latter is considered to be an effective method in the future because it can grasp the exact balance as compared with the former.

Whether the punching method or the printing method is used depends not only on the card medium but also on the function of the card device (card reader / writer). That is, the printing method cannot be realized by the card device having no printing function. Further, as a practical problem, which method will be adopted from the viewpoint of the size (in the case of having a printing function, the size becomes slightly larger) as to whether the reader / writer unit can be incorporated in the POS register or the like? It is determined.

[0005]

As described above, the printing method is considered to be widespread in the future, and it becomes an environment where the punching type card and the printing card are mixedly used, but it is already installed in each store. Many card devices do not have a printing function, and when handling a print card with such a card device, the balance is not printed, which causes a problem.

That is, FIG. 8 (a) shows that the printing card is issued from 3000 yen to 100 yen, 2900 yen, and further 4 yen.
It costs 2500 yen for 00 yen and 2000 for 500 yen
The state of printing in the state of a circle is shown, but if 600 yen is used later with a card device having no printing function, the remaining amount of 1400 yen is not printed.

In this state, a card device having a printing function
If you use 00 yen, it costs 140 yen as shown in Fig. 8 (b).
The remaining amount of 1300 yen, which is 100 yen less than 0 yen, will be printed. In this case, there is no problem if the user clearly remembers using 600 yen for the card device without the printing function last time, but time has passed and the balance itself at that time is checked. If you do not have it or have forgotten it, it is the value obtained by subtracting the current usage amount of 100 yen from the final printed balance of 2000 yen 19
I assumed that 00 yen was the balance of this time, and it did not match the 1300 yen actually printed, so it was easy to have trouble with the clerk.

The present invention has been proposed in view of the above points, and an object thereof is a system in which a printing card which is a prepaid card capable of printing the balance and a normal prepaid card are used together. It is another object of the present invention to provide a prepaid card processing system capable of preventing a trouble caused by misunderstanding of a customer due to a print failure due to a print card being used in a card device having no print function.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a printing function in a system in which a printing card, which is a prepaid card capable of printing the balance, and an ordinary prepaid card are used together. When a printing card immediately after being used by a non-printing card device is used by a printing card device that has a printing function, the amount of money used by the non-printing card device or the balance after this time is accompanied by a special unprinted usage mark. The amount printed on the card or the amount used by the card device without the printing function is displayed on the card device.

Further, the print card has a print card flag indicating that the card is a print card and a non-print use flag indicating that the card is still used by a card device having no print function. It is preferable to have, as data, the total amount of non-printing use, which indicates the total amount of money used in the card device having no printing function.

Further, the card device having no printing function is provided with a card information updating section for setting a non-printing use flag for the printing card and for writing a cumulative total amount of non-printing use.
It is preferable that the card device having a printing function is provided with a card information updating unit that clears a print-unused use flag and a print-unused usage accumulated amount, and a card print unit that prints a print-unused use mark.

[0012]

According to the prepaid card processing system of the present invention, in a system in which a printing card which is a prepaid card capable of printing the balance and a normal prepaid card are used together, a card device having no printing function is used. When the printing card immediately after being used is used by a card device with printing function, the amount of money used by the card device without printing function or the balance after this time is printed on the card with a special unprinted usage mark By displaying the amount of money used by the card device having no printing function on the card device, it is possible to inform the user that there is a missing print and prevent trouble due to misunderstanding.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a data format of a print card used in the prepaid card processing system of the present invention. In FIG. 1, A is a header code indicating the beginning of card information. B is a print card flag indicating that the card is a print card having a print layer capable of indicating the balance, and has a fixed value according to the type of the card. In the case of a print card, it is issued in the ON state. It C is a non-printing use flag indicating that the print card is still used by a card device having no print function, and is turned on when used by a card device having no print function and then printed. When used by a functional card device it is returned to the off state. D is the total amount of non-printing use that indicates the total amount of money that has been used in a card device that does not have a printing function. If the card device that does not have a printing function is used continuously, the amount is accumulated. It is cleared when it is used with a card device that has a printing function. E is the remaining amount indicating the residual value that can be used at the present time. F is an end code indicating the end of the card information.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the structure of a card device having no printing function in the prepaid card processing system of the present invention. In FIG. 2, this card device has a mechanism section for taking in, carrying and discharging prepaid cards (print cards and ordinary prepaid cards) and a magnetic head for reading and writing magnetic information. A reader / writer unit 1, a card reading unit 2 that reads card information via a magnetic head of the reader / writer unit 1, and a print card flag storage unit that stores a printing card flag, a cumulative non-printing amount, and a balance from the read information. 3, accumulated non-printing storage amount storage unit 4, remaining amount storage unit 5, current usage amount generation unit 6 for generating the amount of money used this time by a prepaid card, cumulative usage without printing when the card to be handled is a printing card No printing used total amount calculation unit 7 for calculating the amount and no printing used flag is generated when the card to be handled is a printing card Use flag generator 8
And a value generated by the balance generating unit 9 for generating the balance after use, the non-printing cumulative usage amount calculating unit 7, the non-printing usage flag generating unit 8, and the balance generating unit 9 in the magnetic head of the reader / writer unit 1. And a card information updating unit 10 for writing on the card via the card.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the construction of a card device having a printing function in the prepaid card processing system of the present invention. In FIG. 3, this card device includes a mechanism unit for taking in, carrying, and ejecting prepaid cards (printing cards and ordinary prepaid cards), a magnetic head for reading and writing magnetic information, and a printing mechanism. A reader / writer unit 11 having a read / write unit, a card reading unit 12 for reading card information via a magnetic head of the reader / writer unit 11, and a printing for storing a total amount of non-printing use, a non-printing use flag, and a remaining amount from the read information. No-use cumulative amount storage unit 13, non-printing use flag storage unit 14, balance storage unit 15, and use no printing when the card to be handled is a printing card and was used immediately before in a card device having no printing function. The non-printed total usage amount display section 16 that displays the total amount, and the amount used this time is generated by the prepaid card Clears the no-printing use flag and the total amount of non-printing use when the card to be handled is a print card and is used in a card device having no printing function immediately before the section 17 Section 18, a balance generation section 19 for generating a balance after use, a non-printing use flag / cumulative amount clear section 18, and a value generated by the balance generation section 19 on a card via the magnetic head of the reader / writer unit 11. A card information updating unit 20 to be written in, and a non-printing use mark generating unit 21 that generates a non-printing use mark when the card to be handled is a printing card and is used immediately before in a card device having no printing function, The values generated by the balance generation unit 19 and the non-printing use mark generation unit 21 are printed on the card via the printing mechanism of the reader / writer unit 11. And a card printing section 22 for printing.

FIG. 4 shows the card device of FIG. 2 and FIG.
It shows a hardware configuration when it is implemented in the S system, and is roughly divided into a POS register 23 and a card terminal 24. Here, the POS register 23 takes charge of the functions of the current usage amount generation units 6 and 17 and the remaining amount generation units 9 and 19 in FIGS. 2 and 3, and the functions are transferred to and from the card terminal 24 by the communication port 25. The print card flag storage unit 3, the non-printing use cumulative amount storage units 4, 13, the non-printing use flag storage unit 14, the remaining amount storage units 5, 15 are realized by the RAM 29, and the non-printing use cumulative amount calculating unit 7, the non-printing use The flag generation unit 8, the non-printing use flag / cumulative amount clearing unit 18, and the non-printing use mark generating unit 21 are realized by a program stored in the ROM 28 and executed by the CPU 26. The card reading units 2 and 12 and the card information updating units 10 and 20 are realized by the writing / reading circuit 30 and the reader / writer control circuit 31. The non-printing cumulative usage amount display unit 16 is the display unit 2.
It is realized by 7. The card printing unit 22 is realized by the printing circuit 32.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the processing in the card device having no printing function shown in FIG.

First, the card is read by the reader / writer unit 1 (step S1), the card information is read by the card reading section 2 (step S2), and the card information is stored in the RAM, the print card flag storage section 3, and the total non-printing use. The data is saved in the corresponding amount in the amount storage unit 4 and the balance storage unit 5 (step S3).

Then, it is determined whether the print card flag is on or not from the value of the print card flag storage section 3 in the read and saved card information (step S4), and if it is on (when it is a print card). Is calculated by the unprinted usage cumulative amount calculation unit 7 in consideration of the values in the present usage amount generation unit 6, the unprinted usage cumulative amount storage unit 4, and the remaining amount storage unit 5 (step S5). . The total amount of non-printing use is the sum of the previous total amount of non-printing use recorded on the card (zero if the previous card device has a printing function) and the current amount of use. .

Next, the non-printing use flag generating section 8 turns on the non-printing use flag (step S6), and the balance amount generating section 9 updates the balance information (step S7).
The card information updating unit 10 actually rewrites the card information (step S8), ejects the card (step S9), and ends the process.

When the print card flag is not on (when it is not a print card), the calculation of the total amount of non-printing use (step S5) and the turning on of the non-printing use flag (step S6) are skipped.

Next, FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the processing in the card device having the printing function shown in FIG.

First, the card is read by the reader / writer unit 11 (step S10), the card information is read by the card reading section 12 (step S11),
These are composed of a RAM and are used to store a total amount of non-printing use storage 13, a storage 14 of non-printing use flags, and a balance storage unit 15.
To the corresponding one (step S12).

Next, it is determined whether the non-printing use flag is on or not from the value of the non-printing use flag storage section 14 in the read and saved card information (step S13).
When it is on (when the card is a printing card and has been previously used in a card device having no printing function), the cumulative non-printing usage amount is displayed on the cumulative non-printing usage amount display unit 16 (step S14), and is used. Persons and shop assistants are notified.

Next, the non-printing use mark generating unit 21 generates a non-printing use mark (for example, "@") (step S15), and the card printing unit 22 displays the non-printing use mark and the total non-printing use amount on the card. Is printed on (step S16).

Next, the unprinted use flag / cumulative amount clearing unit 18 clears the unprinted use flag and the unprinted used amount (step S17), and the balance generation unit 19
To update the balance information (step S18), the card information updating section 20 actually rewrites the card information (step S19), and the card printing section 22 prints the current balance on the card (step S20). Is discharged (step S21), and the process ends.

If the unprinted usage flag is not on, the cumulative unprinted usage amount is displayed (step S1).
4), generation of non-printing use mark (step S15),
The printing mark without printing and the printing of the total amount of printing without printing (step S16) are skipped.

FIG. 7 (a) shows the print card issuing amount of 300
After spending 0 yen to 100 yen for 2900 yen, 400 yen for 2500 yen, 500 yen for 2000 yen, and 600 yen for a card device without printing function,
The figure shows printing when 100 yen is used with a card device having a printing function. Here, "@ 0600" indicates that the card device without printing function used 600 yen to skip printing, and this shows that the remaining amount is 1300 yen in addition to the current usage amount of 100 yen. It can be clearly shown to the user.

Further, FIG. 7B shows another display method, in which the accumulated amount in a card device without a printing function is not printed, and a non-printing use mark "@" is added. The remaining amount is printed directly to indicate that there is a missing print.

[0032]

As described above, in the prepaid card processing system of the present invention, when the printing card immediately after being used by the card device having no printing function is used by the card device having the printing function, the printing function The amount used by a card device without a card or the balance after this time is printed on the card with a special non-printing use mark, or the amount used by a card device without a printing function is displayed on the card device. Therefore, there is an effect that the user recognizes that there is a printing omission and troubles due to misunderstanding can be prevented. This facilitates the common use of the conventional normal prepaid card and the print card.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a data format of a print card used in a prepaid card processing system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a card device having no printing function.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a card device having a printing function.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration example when the card device of FIGS. 2 and 3 is realized by a POS system.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing processing in a card device having no printing function.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing in a card device having a printing function.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of printing on a card according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of printing that easily causes a trouble on a printing card under a conventional system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A: Header code B: Printed card flag C: Non-printed usage flag D: Unprinted usage accumulated amount E: Remaining amount F: End code 1 ... Reader / writer unit (no printing function) 2 ... Card Reading unit 3 …… Printed card flag storage unit 4 …… Unprinted accumulated amount storage unit 5 …… Remaining amount storage unit 6 …… Currently used amount generation unit 7 …… No printing used accumulated amount calculation unit 8 …… Unprinted use Flag generating unit 9 ... Balance generating unit 10 ... Card information updating unit 11 ... Reader / writer unit (with printing function) 12 ... Card reading unit 13 ... Non-printing accumulated amount storage unit 14 ... Non-printing use flag storage unit 15 ... Remaining amount Storage unit 16 ... Non-printing cumulative amount display unit 17 ... Current usage amount generating unit 18 ... Non-printing use flag / cumulative amount clearing unit 19 ... Remaining amount generating unit 20 ... Card information updating unit 21 Non-printing use mark generating section 22 ... Card printing section 23 ... POS register 24 ... Card terminal 25 ... Communication port 26 ... CPU 27 ... Display 28 ... ROM 29 ... RAM 30 ... Writing / reading circuit 31 ... Reader / writer control circuit 32 ... Printing circuit 33 ... Reader / writer unit

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display location G06K 17/00 R 19/00 G06K 19/00 V G07F 7/08 L

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. In a system in which a printing card, which is a prepaid card capable of printing the balance, and an ordinary prepaid card are mixedly used, the printing card immediately after being used by a card device having no printing function is used. When used with a certain card device, the amount used by the card device without printing function or the remaining amount after this time is printed on the card with a special unprinted usage mark, or used by the card device without printing function A prepaid card processing system, which displays the amount of money paid on a card device. 2. The print card has a print card flag indicating that the card is a print card and a non-print use flag indicating that the card is still used by a card device having no print function. 2. The prepaid card processing system according to claim 1, further comprising, as data, a cumulative total amount of non-printing usage indicating a cumulative total amount of money used in a card device having no printing function. 3. A card device having no printing function is provided with a card information updating unit for setting a printing non-use flag for the printing card and writing a cumulative non-printing usage amount. 3. The prepaid card processing according to claim 2, further comprising: a card information updating unit for clearing a non-printing use flag and a total amount of non-printing use, and a card printing unit for printing a non-printing use mark. system.