JPH0896092A - Medium processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a medium processor which can erase with a thermal print head for performing a printing, regardless of the length of the lapse of time after the printing, and embodys the miniaturization and the cost reduction. CONSTITUTION: A rewritable card 1 is provided with a history recording part recording the history information at the time of a final printing, etc. A medium processor 4 is provided with a magnetic head 10 reading history information and a thermal print head 11 performing a printing on the rewritable card 1. The magnetic head 10 is connected with a CPU 31 via a magnetic head control part 36 and the history information read by the magnetic head 10 is delivered to the CPU 31. The thermal print head 11 is connected with the CPU 31 via a thermal print head control part 37. In a RAM 34, the driving pulse information according to the lapse of time from the time of the final printing is stored. The CPU 31 selects a driving pulse based on the information from the magnetic head 10 and outputs the selected driving pulse to the thermal print head control part 37.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a medium processing apparatus for printing or erasing a print on a thermal recording medium using a thermoreversible recording material, and a print erasing method in the medium processing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a medium processing apparatus for applying heat energy to a recording medium (hereinafter referred to as a rewritable card) using a thermoreversible material for printing or erasing a print, heat energy is applied for printing. There is one using a thermal print head as a means and a heat stamp provided with a heater as a means for erasing. On the other hand, an apparatus is being studied in which a thermal print head for printing is used for erasing, and driving energy different from that for printing is applied to the thermal print head to perform erasing. If printing and erasing are performed by one thermal print head, it is not necessary to provide a unit dedicated to erasing, so that the apparatus can be downsized and the cost can be reduced.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional medium processing apparatus for performing printing and erasing by the thermal print head, the characteristics of the thermoreversible material used for the rewritable card are changed with time (when printing is performed). There is a problem that the erasure cannot be performed after a long time has elapsed since printing due to the characteristic of the thermoreversible recording material that the erasable temperature range changes depending on the elapsed time from the erasing to the erasing.

[0004]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention relates to a medium processing device for performing printing or erasing by applying heat energy to a thermoreversible recording medium by a heating element, wherein A history recording unit provided on the recording medium for recording a history of printing or erasing, a reading unit for reading the record of the history recording unit, and controlling the driving energy of the heating element based on the history read by the reading unit. And a control unit.

[0005]

According to the present invention having the above structure, the reading unit reads the history from the history recording unit provided on the thermoreversible recording medium, and the control unit controls the driving energy of the heating element based on the read history. . By recording the last printing time as the history of the medium, the elapsed time from the last printing time to the present can be known, and the driving energy can be applied according to the elapsed time.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that elements common to the drawings are given the same reference numerals. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a medium processing device of a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing printing / erasing characteristics of a rewritable card used in the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a rewritable used in the first embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows a card. First, Figure 2
The characteristics of the rewritable card will be described below.

In FIG. 2, the vertical axis represents the reflection density, the transparent side represents the erased state of the thermoreversible recording material,
The cloudy side indicates the printed state. The horizontal axis represents the driving energy of each dot of the thermal print head that applies thermal energy to the rewritable card. When the driving energy is large, the thermal energy to the thermoreversible recording material is large. The characteristic A shown by the solid line shows the change in reflection density due to the application of thermal energy by the thermal print head to the rewritable card in the transparent (erased) state, and it remains transparent when the driving energy is low. , Shows that it becomes cloudy when the driving energy becomes high. When printing is performed, drive energy "E2" is applied to the thermal print head to cause the thermoreversible recording material to become cloudy.

The characteristics B, C, and D shown by the broken lines show the change in reflection density due to the application of heat energy by the thermal print head to the rewritable card in the cloudy (printing) state (state). Characteristic A shows the case of using the card immediately after printing, characteristic B shows the case of using the card one day after printing, and characteristic C shows the case of using the card one week after printing. When a card immediately after printing is used, by applying drive energy "E1" to the thermal print head,
The status changes to and is erased. However, in the case of a card on which one day has elapsed after printing, the drive energy of "E1" is applied to the thermal print head to change from the state of to the state of and stabilize at the level of. This level is incompletely erased. Further, in the case of a card which has been printed for one week, even if the drive energy of "E1" is applied to the thermal print head, the state of does not change, and the card remains clouded. That is, in this case, the drive energy "E1" can hardly be erased.

In FIG. 3, a rewritable card 1 is provided with an information recording section 2 for printing and recording information, and a history recording section 3 for recording a history of thermal recording of this card 1. The history recording unit 3 is composed of magnetic recording,
As the contents of the history, the last printed year, month, day, hour, minute, second, etc. are recorded.

FIG. 1 shows a medium processing apparatus of this embodiment. In FIG. 1, the medium processing device 4 includes a card insertion slot 5, a card transport path 6, drive rollers 7a, 7b and 7c, pressure rollers 8a and 8b, a platen roller 9, and a magnetic head 1.
0 and a thermal print head 11 are provided respectively. The drive rollers 7a, 7b, 7c are the drive belt 12
And it is rotationally driven by the motor 14 via the timing belt 13. The rotation of the drive roller 7b is transmitted to the platen roller 9 via the idle gear 15. An encoder 16 is attached to the motor 14 so that the rotation amount of the motor 14 can be detected. The thermal print head 11 is moved up and down by an actuator 17,
By applying the driving energy, the information recording unit 2 of the card 1 is printed or the already printed information is erased. This thermal print head 11
Is not normally in contact with the platen roller 9, and is contacted by the actuator 17 only when printing or erasing. The magnetic head 10 also reads from and writes to the history recording unit 3 of the card 1. A card insertion detection sensor 18 is provided at the card insertion slot 5 to detect the insertion of the card 1. A card residual sensor 19, a read / write timing sensor 20, and a print erasing timing sensor 21 are provided in the transport path 6.

The operation of the medium processing apparatus 1 is controlled by a control unit (CPU).
Controlled by 31. The CPU 31 has a host interface 32, a read-only memory (ROM) 33 in which a firmware program for the CPU 31 is stored, and a random access memory (RA) in which data and the like are temporarily stored.
M) 34 and the timer circuit 35 are connected. The timer circuit 35 measures the current time. CPU31
A magnetic head control unit 36, a thermal print head control unit 37, an actuator control unit 38, a motor control unit 39, and a sensor control unit 40 are connected to, and control each of these control units.

The magnetic head controller 36 controls the read and write operations of the magnetic head 10, and the thermal print head controller 37 controls the operation of the thermal print head 11. The actuator control unit 38 controls the operation of the actuator 17, and the motor control unit 39 and the sensor control unit 40 respectively control the motor 14 and the sensor 18,
It controls the operations of 19, 20, and 21.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the essential parts of the first embodiment. In FIG. 4, the thermal print head control unit 37 includes a print / erase data transmission unit 42 and a drive pulse control circuit 43. Print / erase data sending unit 4
When the printing operation is performed, the dot data 2 such as print characters sent from the CPU 31 is serially sent to the thermal print head 11, and when the erasing operation is performed, CP is used.
This is a circuit that serially sends out the erase dot data sent from U31. The drive pulse control circuit 43 is
This is a circuit that generates a drive pulse for driving the heating element for each dot of the thermal print head 11 and controls the drive energy. Also, the heat recording history comparison unit 44
Is provided, the card history information read by the magnetic head 10 is compared with the current time from the timer circuit 35, and the difference is calculated.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the print erasing drive pulse in the first embodiment. In this embodiment, the drive energy is controlled by changing the drive pulse width of the thermal print head 11. In FIG. 5, the vertical axis represents print drive current and the horizontal axis represents time. T1 and t2 in the figure
, T3 represent drive pulse widths, and the area of each hatched portion is proportional to the amount of thermal energy of the heating element of the thermal print head 11. Therefore, t1, t2,
By changing the driving pulse width like t3, the amount of thermal energy of the thermal print head 11 can be controlled, and the printing and erasing characteristics of the thermoreversible recording material shown in FIG. 2 can be changed.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the first embodiment. Here, as the operation of the first embodiment, an operation of erasing the already printed information of the rewritable card 1 and then performing new printing will be described.

First, when the rewritable card 1 that has already been printed is inserted into the card insertion slot 5 of the medium processing device 4, the card insertion detection sensor 18 detects it (step 1). Then, in response to a command from the CPU 31, the motor 14 is driven via the motor control unit 39, the drive rollers 7a, 7b, 7c rotate, and the card 1 is sucked into the device 4 (step 2). When the read / write timing sensor 20 detects the rewritable card 1 sucked into the device 4 (step 3), the magnetic head 10 causes the card 1 to read.
The history recording unit 3 is read (step 4). The history recording unit 3 records the date, time, date, etc. of the last print,
These pieces of information are read by the magnetic head 10. The read information is sent to the thermal recording comparison section 44 via the magnetic head control section 36.

By the way, the timer circuit 35 constantly keeps track of the current time, and this current time information is sent to the thermal recording comparison section 44. The thermal recording comparison unit 44 calculates the elapsed time Δt from the read date and time and the current time information, indicating how much time has elapsed from the last printing of the card 1 to the present. In this embodiment, when the elapsed time Δt is (i) less than 1 day, (ii) 1 day or more and less than 1 week, (iii)
For one week or more, it is divided into three, and in the case of (i), FIG.
Drive pulse control circuit 43
And send it to the thermal print head 11. When the elapsed time Δt is (ii), a drive pulse having a width of t1 is set by the drive pulse control circuit 43 and sent to the thermal print head 11. Further, when the elapsed time Δt is (iii), the drive pulse having the width t3 is supplied to the drive pulse control circuit 43.
And send it to the thermal print head 11. The driving energy "E" shown in FIG.
1 "is generated, the driving pulse having the width of t2 generates the driving energy" E3 "shown in FIG. 2, and the driving pulse having the width of t3 generates the driving energy" E4 "shown in FIG. Then, the drive energy having an optimum size is set according to the length of the elapsed time Δt (step 5).

While the magnetic head 10 is reading, the rewritable card 1 is passing through the print erasing timing sensor 21 and the thermal print head 11. When the timing sensor 21 detects the end of the card 1 (step 6), the motor 14 is stopped via the motor controller 39, and then the motor 14 is rotated in the opposite direction (step 7). The timing sensor 21 confirms that the card 1 is conveyed in the opposite direction (step 8), and the thermal print head controller 37 drives the thermal print head 11 (step 9). At this time, the thermal print head 1
The drive energy of the optimum magnitude set in step 5 is applied to 1.

If the elapsed time Δt from the final printing is (i), it is the case of characteristic B shown in FIG. 2 and there is no problem. When the elapsed time Δt is the above (ii), which is the case of the characteristic C, since the drive energy of “E3” is output, it is almost completely erased as can be seen from FIG. When the elapsed time Δt is the above (iii), which is the case of the characteristic D, the drive energy of “E4” is output, and the state is not perfect but is in the erased state.

The timing sensor 2 indicates that the card 1 has passed the thermal print head 11 after the erasing operation is completed.
If it is confirmed by 1 (step 10), the motor 14 is stopped, and then the motor 14 is reversely rotated (step 11). This causes the card 1 to pass under the thermal print head 11. Here, the thermal print head 11 is driven to perform new printing (step 12). When printing is completed, the motor 14 is stopped and then reverse rotation is performed (step 1
3). When the card 1 is detected by the read / write timing sensor 20 (step 14), the history information is updated in the history recording unit 3 of the card 1 by the magnetic head 10. That is, the time of printing, that is, the date and time is written (step 15). The card 1 is further conveyed, the card insertion detection sensor 18 detects the card 1 (step 16), and when the end of the card 1 is detected (step 17), the motor 14 is stopped (step 1).
8). With the above, the erasing and printing operations are completed.

As described above, in this embodiment, when the elapsed time from the final printing becomes long, the erasing characteristic of the rewritable card 1 becomes the characteristic C or the characteristic D shown in FIG.
Erasing is possible by increasing the driving energy to the thermal print head 11. The values of the drive pulse widths t1, t2 and t3 shown in FIG. 5 are the same as those shown in FIG.
It can be easily changed by incorporating it in M33.

In the case of a rewritable card in which the driving energy "E1" and "E2" of the printing / erasing characteristic shown in FIG. 2 is large, the driving energy of a size corresponding to the elapsed time Δt from the final printing is applied. This embodiment is effective, but if the distance between "E1" and "E2" is small, control becomes somewhat difficult. In this case, drive energy of “E2” or more is applied to the thermal print head 11 to print the entire surface of the information recording unit 2 (white turbidity) and initialize the information recording unit 2. As a result, the information recording unit 2 has the characteristic B shown in FIG.
Therefore, if the drive energy for erasing is set to “E1”, erasing will be performed well.
To determine whether the drive energy between "E1" and "E2" is large or small, it may be stored in the history recording unit 3 in advance as the printing / erasing characteristic of the card.

In the first embodiment, the magnetic recording unit is used as the history recording unit 3 and the magnetic head 10 is used as the reading / writing unit, but the history recording unit and the reading / writing unit are not limited to these magnetic units. . For example, an IC that embeds an IC in the rewritable card 1 and reads / writes information from / to the IC on the device side.
A contact may be provided. As another means, a rewritable card is provided with a magneto-optical stripe which is made of a material having a magneto-optical effect and holds information, and a light emitting element and a light receiving element are provided on the device side to read and write to the magneto-optical stripe. You may make it provide the optical head which performs.

The position of the history recording section 3 in the rewritable card 1 is not limited to that in the first embodiment. That is, it may be provided on the side opposite to the information recording section 2,
Alternatively, it may be provided in the information recording unit 2.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment according to the present invention, and FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing a rewritable card of the second embodiment. Next, the second embodiment will be described. Figure 8
In the rewritable card 51 of the second embodiment,
An information recording section 52 for recording information is provided, and a history recording section 53 for recording history information is provided in the information recording section 52. In the history recording unit 53, the history information is printed visually by a thermal print head described later.

In FIG. 7, the operation of the medium processing device is controlled by the control unit (CPU) 55. The CPU 55 has
A read only memory (ROM) 56 in which the firmware program of the CPU 55 is stored, a random access memory (RAM) 57 that temporarily stores data and the like, a timer circuit 58, a thermal print head controller 59, a motor controller 60, and optical reading. Head 61 is connected, C
The PU 55 controls these. The CPU 55 is connected to a print erasure density determination unit 62, and the print erasure density determination unit 62 is connected to a data comparison unit 63. The data comparison section 63 includes an optical read head 61 and a RAM 5.
Data is sent from 7. The thermal print head control unit 59 has a print / erase data transmission unit 64 and a drive pulse control circuit 65, and is connected to the thermal print head 66, as in the first embodiment. Further, the motor control unit 60 includes a motor 67 used for carrying the card 51 and the like.
Drive control.

Next, the erasing / printing operation of the second embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing the operation of the second embodiment. Steps 21 to 28 shown in FIG. 9 are the same as those in the first embodiment, and the description thereof will be omitted. In step 24, the optical reading head 61 reads the history information from the history recording section 53 of the card 51. Based on this history information, the drive energy of the optimum size for the print progress state of the card 51 is set in step 25.

At step 29, proper driving energy is applied to the thermal print head 66, proper heat energy is applied to the information recording section 52 of the card 51, and erasing is performed. At this time, the history recording section 53 is also erased at the same time. At this time, if the print erasing characteristic of the card 51 is, for example, the characteristic C shown in FIG.

Next, the erased information recording section 52 is read by the optical reading head 61 (step 30). The read data is sent from the optical reading head 61 to the data comparison unit 63. On the other hand, the erase data is stored in the RAM 57, and this erase data is sent to the data comparison unit 63, which compares the read data with the erase data and sends the comparison result to the print erase density determination unit 62. . The print erasure density determination unit 62 determines whether the erasure has been performed properly (step 31). Here, when it is determined that the erasing is not good, as in the case where the characteristic of the card 51 is D, the driving energy of “E2” or more is applied to the thermal print head 66 to print the entire surface of the information recording portion 52. (Muddy) and initializes the information recording unit 52 (step 3
2). When the erasing is performed properly, the motor 67 is stopped and then rotated in the reverse direction (step 33), and then the thermal print head 66 prints on the information recording section 52 (step 34).

Next, the printed information recording section 52 is read by the optical reading head 61 (step 35). In the same manner as in step 31 described above, the print erasure density determination unit 62 determines whether or not printing has been performed satisfactorily (step 3
6) If it is determined that the printing is not good, printing is performed again by the thermal print head 66 (step 3).
7). When the printing is performed well, the motor 67 is stopped and then rotated in the reverse direction (step 38), and then the history information, that is, the printing date is written in the history recording unit 53 by the thermal print head 66 (step 39). When this writing is completed, the card 51 is ejected to the outside of the device (step 4
0).

As described above, in the second embodiment, it is possible to determine whether or not the printing or erasing state of the information recording section is good, even if there is no data on the printing / erasing characteristics of the card 51, and the history recording section 53 can be judged. The amount of data recorded can be reduced. Further, as the means for reading the information recording portion, the optical reading head utilizing the reflection density difference is used in the above-mentioned embodiment,
The present invention is not limited to this, and a camera or the like that directly reads the print content may be used.

In the second embodiment, since the history information is recorded visually, the card owner or the card issuer can easily confirm the card history.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the third embodiment of the present invention. Next, the third embodiment will be described. In FIG. 10, an information recording unit 72 and a history recording unit 73 are provided in the rewritable card 71 of the third embodiment. The history information of the card 71 is recorded in the history recording unit 73, and the information recording unit 72 has a history printing unit 72a in which the same history information as the history recording unit 73 is printed. The optical head 7 is provided at a position facing the information recording section 72.
4 is provided, and a read / write head 75 is provided at a position facing the history recording section 73. That is, the optical head 7
4 reads the information in the information recording section, and the read / write head 75 reads and writes in the history recording section 73.
Further, a thermal print head 76 is provided for printing and erasing on the information recording section 72. A read / write timing sensor 77 is arranged between the optical head 74 and the read / write head 75, and the drive roller 7 is provided below the card 71.
8 is rotatably arranged, and the drive roller 78 is a motor 79.
Is driven to rotate.

The operation of the medium processing apparatus of the third embodiment is CP
It is controlled by U81. CPU81 has CPU81
Read-only memory (ROM) 82 in which the firmware program is stored, random access memory (RAM) 83 for temporarily storing data and the like, thermal print head controller 84, motor controller 85, optical head controller 86, and The read / write head control unit 87 is connected, and further the comparison unit 88 is connected, and the CPU 81 controls these. The comparison unit 88 includes an optical head control unit 86.
Data is sent from the read / write head controller 87. The thermal print head controller 84 controls the thermal print head 76 as in the first embodiment, and the motor controller 60 drives and controls the motor 79 used for carrying the card 71 and the like.

Next, the erase and print operations of the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described according to the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 11 is the third
It is a flow chart which shows operation of an example. In the third embodiment, the history printing section 72a of the information recording section 72 of the card 71
Further, the history information of the card 71 is already printed so as to be visible. Therefore, as in the second embodiment, the card owner or the card issuer can confirm the history of the card 71 just by looking at the card 71.

Steps 51 to 5 shown in FIG.
Up to 3 is the same as in the first embodiment, and the card 71 is taken into the apparatus during this period. In step 54,
The optical head 74 reads the history information from the history printing section 72a in the information recording section 72 of the card 71, and at the same time, in step 55, the read / write head 75 reads the history information from the history recording section 73. The read data are respectively sent to the comparing section 88, and the comparing section 88 compares both read information (step 56). Information recording unit 7
No. 2 may be partially printed or erased due to force majeure, and may be intentionally forged. By comparing the read information of the history information in the history printing section 72a with the read data of the history recording section 73 by the comparison section 88, it is possible to check whether the history information in the history printing section 72a is normal or not. The comparison result of the comparison unit 88 is sent to the CPU 81. In the CPU 81, based on the sent normal history information, the drive energy of the optimum size for the print progress state of the card 71 is determined in step 5
It is set at 7.

After that, when the card 71 comes to a predetermined position based on the detection signal of the timing sensor (step 58 to step 60), in step 61, appropriate driving energy is applied to the thermal print head 76 to record information on the card 71. Appropriate heat energy is applied to the portion 72 to erase it. At this time, the history printing unit 72
The history information of a is also deleted at the same time.

Next, after stopping the motor 79, the motor 79 is reversed (step 62), drive energy for printing is applied to the thermal print head 76, and printing is performed on the information recording section 72 (step 63). At this time, the history printing unit 7 in the information recording unit 72
History information is printed on 2a. After the printing is completed, the motor 79 is stopped and reversed (step 64), and the read / write head 76 writes the history information in the history recording unit 73 (step 65). Then eject the card 71 (Step 6
6), the operation ends.

As described above, in the third embodiment, since the history information is recorded in a visible manner, the card owner or the card manager can confirm the card history as in the second embodiment. It has an effect that it is easy to do. Further, even if the visible history information is changed for some reason, the drive energy for the thermal print head 76 can be set appropriately. Further, in the third embodiment, since the read data from the history printing unit 72a and the read data from the history recording unit 73 are compared by the comparing unit 88, it is possible to determine whether any change has occurred in the history printing unit 72a. A check can be performed, and processing corresponding to this can be performed. For example, when the history printing unit 72a is continuously changed, it is possible to perform control such that history information is no longer printed on the history printing unit 72a.

Although the rewritable card is used in each of the above embodiments, the present invention can be applied to an ID card, a bank card, a transfer card, a prepaid card, an ID card or the like which has been already used. . That is, the thermal recording section may be formed on the surface of these cards, and the history information may be recorded in the recording area originally possessed by each card. In such a case, reading and writing of the history information can be performed by the reading / writing means of each card.

[0041]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, since appropriate drive energy is applied to the thermal print head according to the length of time elapsed after the final printing, the time is not limited to the elapsed time. Erasing is performed well. As a result, the thermal print head enables both printing and erasing, and the size and cost of the processing device can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a medium processing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing print / erase characteristics of a rewritable card.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a rewritable card of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a main part of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a print erasing drive pulse.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a rewritable card according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the operation of the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Rewritable Card 2 Information Recording Section 3 History Recording Section 4 Medium Processing Device 10 Magnetic Head 11 Thermal Print Head 31 CPU 37 Thermal Print Head Control Section

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI technical display location G06K 1/12 Z

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A medium processing apparatus for performing printing or erasing by applying heat energy to a thermoreversible recording medium by a heating element, wherein a history record is provided on the thermoreversible recording medium for recording a history of printing or erasing. A medium processing apparatus, comprising: a unit, a reading unit that reads the record of the history recording unit, and a control unit that controls the driving energy of the heating element based on the history read by the reading unit. 2. The medium processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the history recording unit is visible. 3. A print erasing state reading means for reading the printing or erasing state of the thermoreversible recording medium, and a print erasing state for judging the quality of the printing or erasing state based on the result read by the print erasing state reading means. A quality determining means is provided, and after the control section applies drive energy to the heating element to perform printing or erasing, the print erasing state quality determining means determines the quality of the printing or erasing state.
If the judgment result is no print, repeat the same print operation,
The medium processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein when erasing is not permitted, the entire surface is printed and then the erasing is performed. 4. A medium processing device for performing printing or erasing by applying heat energy to a thermoreversible recording medium by a heating element, wherein a history of printing or erasing is recorded in a printing section of the thermoreversible recording medium. A first history recording section, a second history recording section provided outside the printing section of the thermoreversible recording medium for recording a history of printing or erasing, and a first reading for reading the first history recording section A second reading unit that reads the second history recording unit, and a comparing unit that compares the read data read by the first reading unit with the read data read by the second reading unit. And a control unit that controls drive energy of the heating element based on the history read by the second reading unit.