JPH076486A - Card reader and writer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make a discrimination between an abnormal card and a normal card easy by ejecting a magnetic card while interrupting a process when an abnormality is generated during the process of the magnetic card and selecting a check mode automatically. CONSTITUTION:When the abnormality is generated during the time of processing a prepaid card 3 inserted from a card inserting port, the card 3 is ejected from a card inserting and ejecting port and a fact that the card is an abnormal card is displayed. Next, when the card 3 is removed from the card inserting and ejecting port, the check mode is selected automatically. Further, when the presence of the insertion of the card is detected, the data recorded magnetically is read-out by a magnetic head 17 and whether the card is a just prepaid card or not is discriminated. Furthermore, when a just card 3 is inserted, a balance data read-out from the card 3 is transmitted to an ECR main body 1. Thus, a CPU 13 ejects the inserted card after transmitting an errorneous command or the balance data.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a card reader / writer for reading data magnetically recorded on a magnetic card and magnetically recording data on the magnetic card.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional card reader / writer, when a magnetic card is inserted through a card insertion slot, first, the data magnetically recorded on the magnetic card is read to judge the validity of the magnetic card. In the case of a legitimate magnetic card, the update data generated by the data processing is waited, and when the update data is generated, the update data is magnetically recorded on the magnetic card.

Thereafter, the data magnetically recorded on the magnetic card is read again and collated with the updated data to determine whether or not the magnetic recording is normally performed. Then, when the magnetic recording is normally performed, the magnetic card is ejected from a card ejection port which is also used as the card insertion port or which is provided separately from the card insertion port, and the normal termination is notified.

On the other hand, when an abnormality such as a momentary power failure occurs during card processing, the card reader / writer immediately interrupts the processing upon detecting the occurrence of the abnormality, ejects the magnetic card from the card ejection port, and terminates abnormally. I was informed.

However, if the abnormality occurs before or during the magnetic recording of the updated data on the magnetic card, the data on the magnetic card is not updated and is abnormal, but the updated data is magnetically recorded. If an abnormality occurs in the validity check after the above, the data of the magnetic card ejected as an abnormal end has been updated and is normal.

Therefore, even if the magnetic card is ejected as an abnormal end, it is necessary to check whether the data on the magnetic card is really abnormal or normal.

[0007]

However, the conventional card reader / writer of this type does not have a function of checking the data of the magnetic card ejected as an abnormal end. Therefore, when checking, a dedicated check device is used. It is impractical because it requires time and effort and is time-consuming.

Therefore, the present invention makes it possible to easily and quickly confirm the contents of the data magnetically recorded on the magnetic card ejected due to the occurrence of an abnormality during card processing, and distinguish between an abnormal card and a normal card. It is intended to provide a card reader / writer that can be easily performed.

[0009]

According to the present invention, after reading data recorded on a magnetic card inserted from a card insertion slot and recording data on the magnetic card, the present invention is also used as a card insertion slot or provided separately. In a card reader / writer that ejects a magnetic card from the card ejection port, if an abnormality occurs during processing of the magnetic card inserted from the card insertion port, the process is interrupted and the magnetic card is ejected from the card ejection port Ejecting means, check mode selecting means for automatically selecting the check mode when the magnetic card is ejected by the card ejecting means at the time of abnormality, and magnetic card from the card insertion slot with the check mode selected by the selecting means. And a magnetic card data output means for reading and outputting the data recorded on this magnetic card, And a check mode releasing means for automatically releasing the check mode when the magnetic card is ejected by the card ejecting means during this check. It is equipped with.

[0010]

According to the present invention having such a structure, if any abnormality occurs during the processing of the magnetic card, the processing for the magnetic card is interrupted and the magnetic card is ejected. Then, the check mode is automatically selected. Then, the ejected magnetic card is inserted again. Then, since the data magnetically recorded on the magnetic card is read and displayed and output on, for example, a display device, the validity of the magnetic card can be checked from the output content. After that, the magnetic card is ejected and the check mode is released, and the normal card processing becomes possible.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, the card reader / writer used when paying the price of the sales product registered in the electronic cash register (hereinafter, abbreviated as ECR) with the balance data of the prepaid card (magnetic card) is used. A case where the invention is applied will be described.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall structure of this embodiment, in which 1 is an E for registering product sales data.
A CR main body 2 is a card reader / writer for reading data magnetically recorded on the prepaid card 3 and magnetically recording data on the prepaid card 3. The ECR main body 1 and the card reader / writer 2 are signals. They are connected by a cable 4 and can exchange data with each other.

The ECR main body 1 is provided with a keyboard 5 on the front of which various keys used for product registration and the like are arranged, and an operator display 6 and a customer display 7 on the upper surface.
Further, a printer 8 for printing a receipt or the like is built in, and the receipt printed by the printer 8 is issued from the receipt issuing port 9.

The card reader / writer 2 has a card insertion / removal opening 10 which serves as both a card insertion opening and a card ejection opening on the front surface and communicates with the card insertion / removal opening 10 to form a card conveyance path inside the housing (not shown). is doing. The prepaid card 3 inserted through the card insertion / removal slot 10 and conveyed on the conveying path is configured to execute card processing such as reading and writing of magnetic recording data and printing of print data.

A two-color LED (light emitting diode) 11 for state notification above the card insertion / removal slot 10 which lights up in green when the card processing is normally completed and lights up in red when the card processing is abnormally completed, and a check mode period described later. A check LED 12 that is turned on is provided.

The prepaid card 3 has a magnetic portion on one side and a printing portion on the other side, and balance data and the like are magnetically recorded on the magnetic portion, and transaction history (date, payment amount, balance data) is recorded on the printing portion. Etc.) is printed.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of the card reader / writer 2. As shown in the figure, the card reader / writer 2 includes a CPU (central processing unit) 13 that constitutes the main body of the control unit, a ROM (read only memory) 14 that stores a control program executed by the CPU 13,
A RAM (random access memory) 15 for temporarily storing various data and a communication interface 16 for controlling data communication with the ECR main body 1 through the signal cable 3 are provided.

A magnetic head driver 18 for driving the magnetic head 17, a print head driver 20 for driving the print head 19, a motor driver 22 for driving a drive motor 21, and a display driver 23 for driving the LEDs 11 and 12 to light up. It is provided with an I / O port 25 and the like for inputting a signal from the card presence / absence sensor 24.

The CPU 13, ROM 14, RAM 1
5, the communication I / F 16, the I / O port 25, and the drivers 18, 20, 22, 23 are connected by a bus line 26 such as a data bus or an address bus.

The magnetic head 17 is used for reading the data magnetically recorded on the magnetic portion of the prepaid card 3 conveyed on the card conveying path and for magnetically recording the data on this magnetic portion. The print head 19 is used for printing data on the printing portion of the prepaid card 3 which is carried on the card carrying path.

The drive motor 21 rotates the card transport mechanism in the forward and reverse directions to control the loading and unloading of the card. The card presence / absence sensor 24 is provided in the vicinity of the card insertion / ejection slot 10 and detects the presence / absence of the prepaid card 3.

The CPU 13 is controlled by the program in the ROM 14 so as to execute the work shown in the flowchart of FIG.

First, the CPU 13 monitors the signal from the card presence / absence sensor 24 through the I / O port 25, and when it detects that the card is inserted into the card insertion / ejection slot 10, the drive motor 21 is rotated in the normal direction to be inserted. The loaded card is loaded along the card transport path. At this time, the data magnetically recorded on the magnetic portion of the card is read by the magnetic head 18 and analyzed to determine whether or not the card is a valid prepaid card 3.

If the card is a card other than the prepaid card or the prepaid card has balance data of "0" yen, it is determined that the card is invalid and the drive motor 21 is operated in reverse to eject the card from the card slot 10. At the same time, the status notification two-color LED is lit in red to indicate that the card is abnormal.

After that, the signal from the card presence / absence sensor 24 is monitored, and if the card is removed from the card insertion / removal slot 9, the two-color LED for status notification is turned off, and the present work is terminated.

On the other hand, when the card inserted through the card slot 10 is a valid prepaid card 3, the balance data read from the card 3 is used as the communication interface 16.
To the ECR main body 1 via.

As a result, the ECR main body 1 subtracts the price of the registered sale product from the balance data to calculate new balance data, and sends it to the card reader / writer 2 together with the print data of the transaction history including the new balance data. Therefore, when the CPU 13 receives the new balance data and the transaction history data via the communication interface 16, the CPU 13 temporarily stores them in the RAM 15.

Next, the print head 19 is operated to transfer transaction history data including new balance data to the prepaid card 3
Print on the print part of. Further, the magnetic head 17 is operated to magnetically record the new balance data in the magnetic portion of the prepaid card 3.

Thereafter, the magnetic head 17 is operated to read the data magnetically recorded in the magnetic portion, and it is determined whether or not the data matches the new balance data. If they match, the magnetic recording of the new balance data is normally performed and the card processing is completed. Therefore, the prepaid card 3 is ejected from the card insertion / ejection slot 10, and the status notification two-color LED is lit in green. Display that the card is normal.

After that, the signal from the card presence / absence sensor 24 is monitored, and if the prepaid card 3 is removed from the card insertion / removal slot 10, the status notification two-color LED is turned off, and the current operation is terminated.

On the other hand, when it was not possible to confirm the match between the magnetic recording data and the new balance data, or due to the occurrence of an instantaneous power failure, the magnetic recording of the new balance data or the printing of the transaction history data could not be normally completed. In this case, the prepaid card 3 is ejected from the card insertion / ejection slot 10 (card ejection means at the time of abnormality), and the two-color LED for status notification is illuminated in red to indicate that the card is an abnormal card.

Next, the signal from the card presence / absence sensor 24 is monitored, and if the prepaid card 3 is removed from the card insertion / removal slot 10, the status notification two-color LED is turned off. Then, the check mode is automatically selected (check mode selection means).

In this check mode, the CPU 13
ROM 14 to execute the tasks shown in the flowchart of FIG.
Is controlled by the program in.

That is, first, the check LED 12 is turned on. Next, when the signal from the card presence / absence sensor 24 is monitored and it is detected that the card is inserted into the card insertion / ejection slot 10, the drive motor 21 is rotated in the normal direction to carry the card in along the card conveyance path. At this time, the magnetic head 18 reads the data magnetically recorded on the magnetic portion of the card,
It is analyzed to determine whether it is a valid prepaid card 3.

Then, a predetermined error command in which a card other than the prepaid card is inserted is transmitted to the ECR main body 1 via the communication interface 16. This makes E
The CR main body 1 causes the operator display 6 to display a preset error message.

On the other hand, when a valid prepaid card 3 is inserted, the balance data read from the card 3 is transmitted to the ECR main body 1 via the communication interface 16 (magnetic recording data output means).

As a result, the balance data is displayed on the operator display 6 in the ECR main body 1.

After transmitting the error command or the balance data in this way, the CPU 13 causes the drive motor 21 to rotate in the reverse direction to eject the inserted card from the card insertion / ejection slot 10 (card ejection means for checking).

Then, the signal from the card presence / absence sensor 24 is monitored, and if the card is removed from the card insertion / removal slot 10, the check LED 12 is turned off and the check mode is automatically released (check mode releasing means). ), End this work.

In this embodiment thus constructed, the operator of the ECR main body 1 operates the keyboard 5 to register the sales data of the product purchased by one customer, and then the prepaid card owned by the customer. 3 is inserted from the card insertion / removal opening 10 of the card reader / writer 2.

Then, first, the validity of the prepaid card 3 is judged. Then, in the case of a valid prepaid card 3, the balance data of the card is read and transmitted to the ECR main body 1.

As a result, the ECR main unit 1 processes the business of deducting the price of purchased products from the balance data, and the resulting new balance data and transaction history data including the new balance data are returned to the card reader / writer 2. To be done.

As a result, in the card reader / writer 2, the transaction history data including the new balance data is first printed on the printing portion of the prepaid card 3, and then the new balance data is magnetically recorded on the magnetic portion. Is performed, and after the write check of the magnetic recording data is further performed, the prepaid card 3 is ejected from the card insertion slot 10.

When an abnormality such as a momentary power failure occurs in the series of card processing for printing, magnetic recording and writing check, the processing is immediately interrupted. Then, the prepaid card 3 is ejected from the card insertion / removal opening 10, and the two-color LED 11 for status notification lights up in red to notify the abnormal termination.

Therefore, the operator uses the prepaid card 3
Is once removed from the card slot 10. Then, the status notification LED 11 is turned off and the check LED 1 is used instead.
2 lights up and the check mode is automatically selected. Therefore, the operator has to pay the abnormally ejected prepaid card 3
Is again inserted into the card insertion slot 10. Then, the balance data magnetically recorded on the prepaid card 3 is read, transmitted to the ECR main body 1, and displayed and output on the operator display 6.

As a result, the operator can determine whether the prepaid card 3 is normal or abnormal. That is,
If an abnormality such as a momentary power failure occurs before or during magnetic recording of new balance data on the prepaid card 3, the data of the prepaid card 3 is the pre-update balance data or is destroyed.

On the other hand, if the above-mentioned abnormality occurs when checking the validity of the new balance data after magnetically recording the new balance data, the magnetic record data of the prepaid card 3 discharged as the abnormal termination becomes the new balance data. Has been updated.

Therefore, the operator compares the balance data of the final transaction history data printed on the printing portion of the prepaid card 3 with the data displayed on the operator display 6, and the display data is the balance data of the final transaction history data. If it does not match with (unbalanced data before update or abnormal data due to data destruction), it is processed as an abnormal card.

On the other hand, when the display data is new balance data that matches the balance data of the final transaction history data, the payment operation has been normally completed and the prepaid card 3
Since it can be used continuously as it is, it is processed as a normal card.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the check mode is automatically selected when a card in which an abnormality such as a momentary power failure occurs during card processing is abnormally ejected.
In this state, when a card that has been abnormally ejected is inserted into the card insertion / removal slot 10, the data contents magnetically recorded on the card are displayed and output on the operator display 6 of the ECR main body 1 and the display contents can be confirmed. It is possible to check the magnetic recording contents of the abnormally ejected card.

Therefore, by simply inserting the abnormally ejected card into the card insertion / removal slot 10, the magnetic recording contents of the card can be confirmed in a short time to discriminate between the abnormal card and the normal card. Can be done easily,
It is possible to improve the practicality.

In the above embodiment, the card reader / writer 2 and the ECR main body 1 are connected by the signal cable 4 and the data read from the magnetic card is processed on the ECR main body side. It goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to a card reader / writer provided.

If it is connected to an electronic cash register that prints and issues new balance data on a transaction receipt, the new balance data printed on the receipt and the balance data of the prepaid card that has been abnormally ejected will be displayed. The present invention can be applied to a card reader / writer that does not have a data printing function because it can be checked by collation.

Further, although the magnetic recording data output destination of the magnetic card in the check mode is the operator display 6 of the ECR main body 1 in the above-mentioned embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this. May be printed out. Further, the card reader / writer 2 may be provided with a check display device such as a liquid crystal display device so that the magnetic recording data is displayed on the display screen.

In addition, the present invention is applied to a card reader / writer that reads / writes data from / to a card whose record data is updated by product sales data other than a prepaid card (privilege point total card, change total card, etc.). Of course, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0056]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, if an abnormality occurs during the processing of the magnetic card inserted from the card insertion slot, the processing is interrupted and the magnetic card is ejected from the card ejection slot. When the check mode is automatically selected and a magnetic card is inserted from the card insertion slot in this state, the data recorded on this magnetic card is read and output, and then the magnetic card is ejected from the card ejection slot and checked. Since the mode is automatically canceled, it is possible to easily and quickly confirm the data contents magnetically recorded on the magnetic card ejected due to the occurrence of an abnormality during card processing. It is possible to provide a card reader / writer which can be easily discriminated from.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a card reader / writer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a CPU of the card reader / writer according to the embodiment.
6 is a flowchart showing a normal process executed by the.

FIG. 4 is a CPU of the card reader / writer according to the embodiment.
5 is a flowchart showing the check mode processing executed by the.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... ECR (electronic cash register) main body 2 ... Card reader / writer 3 ... Prepaid card (magnetic card) 10 ... Card slot 13 ... CPU 14 ... ROM 15 ... RAM 16 ... Communication interface 17 ... Magnetic head 19 ... Print head 21 … Drive motor 24… Card presence sensor

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A card ejecting port which is also used as the card inserting port or provided separately after processing the reading of the data recorded on the magnetic card inserted from the card inserting port and the recording of the data on the magnetic card. In a card reader / writer for ejecting the magnetic card, if an abnormality occurs during processing of the magnetic card inserted from the card insertion slot, the processing is interrupted and the magnetic card ejecting means for ejecting the magnetic card from the card ejection slot And a check mode selecting means for automatically selecting a check mode when the magnetic card is ejected by the card ejecting means at the time of an abnormality, and a magnetic card from the card insertion slot in the check mode selected by the selecting means. Magnetic card data output means for reading and outputting the data recorded on this magnetic card when is inserted. A check card ejection means for ejecting the magnetic card whose data is output by the output means from the card ejection port; and a check mode is automatically set when the magnetic card is ejected by the check card ejection means. A card reader / writer comprising: a check mode canceling means for canceling.