JPH09114940A - Reading system for magnetic card - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the reliability of a magnetic card reading device by judging the propriety of card by exactly detecting the presence/absence of a punched hole, etc., on a magnetic card. SOLUTION: Before a magnetic head 9 performs a reading operation to a fetched card 20, this card 20 is demagnetized by a magnetic head 7. As a result, since the magnetic polarity of the magnetic card is decided in the fixed direction, even when a punched hole 20A on the card is closed, it can be exactly detected by a magnetic head 9. Besides, since the punched hole section 20A is detected by an optical punched hole sensor as well, the presence/absence of the punched hole can be further exactly detected so that the propriety of the card can be exactly judged.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a card processing apparatus for taking in a magnetic card, determining the presence or absence of the taken-in magnetic card, and reading holes and scratches on the magnetic card with a magnetic head to determine whether the card is right or wrong.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general prepaid cards, value information is recorded in advance on magnetic tracks. Here, when the card is inserted to pay the fee etc.,
The value information is read by the magnetic head, and after the payment of the charge, the remaining value information is recorded on the magnetic track by the magnetic head and returned.

In such a magnetic card, the remaining amount according to the fee payment is recorded on the magnetic track, and punch holes are punched by a puncher or the like as a measure of the remaining amount. By the way, in recent years, the punched holes of the used card thus punched are blocked and used as a new card. Therefore, the presence / absence of punch holes in the magnetic card is detected using both the optical sensor and the magnetic head sensor.

[0004]

However, a magnetic layer is also formed in the punch hole area of such a magnetic card,
Moreover, since the magnetic polarity is not determined, when the punch hole is detected using the magnetic head, the presence or absence of the punch hole cannot be accurately detected, and thus such a card is erroneously determined. was there. Therefore, according to the present invention, when a punched hole or the like of a magnetic card is detected by using a magnetic head and the quality of the magnetic card is determined, the punched hole or the like can be accurately detected to accurately determine whether the magnetic card is good or bad. The purpose is to improve the reliability of.

[0005]

In order to solve such a problem, the present invention takes in a magnetic card, detects the presence or absence of the taken-in magnetic card, a hole on the magnetic card, a scratch, and the like. The card processing device for reading and detecting with the magnetic head is provided with a second magnetic head for making the magnetic polarity of the magnetic card constant, and the second magnetic head demagnetizes the magnetic card before the first magnetic head The reading operation is performed. Therefore,
This magnetic card is demagnetized by the second magnetic head before the first magnetic head performs the reading operation on the taken-in magnetic card, so that the magnetic polarity of the magnetic card is determined in a fixed direction, and for example, a punch hole is formed. Even a magnetic card in which the magnetic field is blocked can be accurately detected by the first magnetic head.

Further, an optical sensor for optically detecting the taken-in magnetic card is provided. As a result,
The optical sensor and the first magnetic head detect the presence or absence of, for example, a punch hole in the magnetic card, so that the quality of the magnetic card can be detected more accurately.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a card processing device to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, 1
Is a card transport motor for transporting a card, 2 is a motor drive circuit, 3 is a card position detection sensor for detecting the position of the card in the card transport path, 4 and 6 are sensor circuits, and 5 is a card transported in the transport path. , 11 are magnetic heads for performing magnetic recording on a card transported in the transport path, 8 and 12 are write circuits, and 9 and 13 are transport in the transport path. The magnetic heads 10 and 14 for reading data from the card to be reproduced are reproducing circuits. Further, 15 is a CPU that controls each of the above units, 16 is an I / O unit that is an interface between the CPU 15 and each of the above units, 17 is a ROM that stores programs executed by the CPU 15, and 18 is data that is stored. RAM that is used.

In the card processing device configured as described above, it is possible to take in a raw card in which no value information is recorded, record the value information, and issue it as a magnetic card. In this case, first, the raw card in which the value information is not recorded is taken in, and the motor drive circuit 2 is controlled to drive the card transport motor 1 to carry the raw card in the card transport path. The position of the raw card conveyed in the card conveying path in this way is detected by the CPU 15 via the card position detecting sensors 3 arranged at various places in the card conveying path and the sensor circuit 4 connected to the sensor 3.

Here, the CPU 15 outputs the outputs of the optical punch hole sensor 5 and the magnetic head 9 arranged in the card transport path, and the sensor circuit 6 and the reproducing circuit 10 for inputting these outputs to the punch hole of the card. Check the card for scratches, etc. to determine the correctness of the card. When the card is normal, the write circuit 12 is controlled to cause the magnetic head 11 to record the value information on the magnetic track of the raw card.
After that, the value information recorded on the card is read via the magnetic head 13 and the reproducing circuit 14, the read information is compared with the value information before recording, and if the both information match, the value is normal. Store as a good card with information recorded.

By the way, in the case of checking such punch holes and scratches of a magnetic card to judge whether the card is right or wrong,
Since a magnetic layer is formed on one surface of the magnetic card and the magnetic polarity thereof is not fixed, the presence or absence of the punch hole or the like is not accurately detected when the magnetic head 9 is used. There is a problem that the correctness of can not be accurately determined. Therefore, in the present invention, the presence or absence of punch holes or the like of the magnetic card can be accurately detected by aligning the magnetic polarities of the magnetic card in a certain direction.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a punch hole detection state of a magnetic card. In FIG. 2, 20 is a magnetic card and 20A is a punch hole portion. In addition, 19 is the above-mentioned card conveyance path. Here, when the magnetic card 20 is conveyed in the card conveying path 19, first, the writing circuit 8 is controlled to demagnetize the magnetic card 20 by the magnetic head 7 so that its magnetic polarity is aligned in a certain direction. After that, the magnetic head 9 reads the magnetic card 20 whose magnetic polarity is aligned in a certain direction. As a result, the output level of the punch hole portion 20A read by the magnetic head 9 and reproduced by the reproducing circuit 10 becomes high, so that the CPU 1 can accurately identify the existence of the punch hole portion 20A.

FIG. 3 shows a comparison between the output characteristics of the magnetic head 9 when the magnetic polarity of the magnetic card is not defined and the output characteristics of the magnetic head 9 when the magnetic polarity of the magnetic card is defined in a fixed direction. FIG. That is, magnetic card 2
When 0 is not demagnetized by the magnetic head 7, the magnetic polarity in the magnetic layer 20B of the magnetic card is such that one is oriented in the N-pole direction and the other is oriented in the S-pole direction, as shown in FIG. , They are in different directions. Therefore, in such a state, each voltage of the both ends of the magnetic card 20 detected by the magnetic head 9 and reproduced by the reproducing circuit 10 and the punch hole 20A is, for example, 1 V as shown in FIG. 3B. Therefore, the potential difference from the detection voltage of the other parts of the magnetic card 20 is small, and therefore the punch hole 2
The detection accuracy of 0A, etc. is poor and cannot be accurately identified.

On the other hand, when the magnetic card 20 is demagnetized by the magnetic head 7, the magnetic layer 20 of the magnetic card 20 is demagnetized.
As shown in FIG. 3C, the magnetic polarity in B is in a state of being oriented in a constant N-pole direction, for example. Therefore, in such a state, both ends of the magnetic card 20 which is detected by the magnetic head 9 and reproduced by the reproducing circuit 10 and the punched hole portion 20.
Each voltage of A is, for example, 3V as shown in FIG. That is, both end portions of the magnetic card 20 and the punch hole portion 2
The potential difference between 0 A and the detection voltage of the other parts becomes large. Therefore, the detection accuracy of the punch hole portion 20A is improved.
In this case, even if the punch hole portion 20A is blocked, the magnetic characteristics fluctuate at the boundary between the blocked medium and the punch hole portion 20A. Can be identified.

As described above, when the punch hole portion 20A of the magnetic card 20 is detected, the magnetic head 7 is previously demagnetized to demagnetize the magnetic card 20 so that the magnetic polarities thereof are aligned in a certain direction. Hole 20A
The existence of can be accurately identified. Further, in addition to facilitating detection of such punch holes and the front and rear ends of the card 20, scratches on the card 20 can be easily detected. Here, by comparing with the detection result of the optical punch hole sensor 5, the correctness of the card can be more accurately determined.

Next, FIG. 4 shows the operation of the CPU 15 of the card processing device for issuing a card. The operation of the main part of the present invention will be described with reference to this flowchart.
That is, first, a raw card (that is, the magnetic card 20) on which no value information is recorded is loaded in step S1. Then, the motor drive circuit 2 is controlled to drive the card carrying motor 1 to carry the magnetic card 20 to the card carrying path 19. Next, the CPU 15 determines whether or not the orientation process is performed on the magnetic card 20 in step S2 based on the instruction information from the host device (not shown).

The orientation process is a process for aligning the above-mentioned magnetic polarities of the magnetic card 20 in a certain direction, and if the presence of the orientation process is determined to be "Y" in step S2,
In step S3, orientation processing is executed. That is, in this case C
The PU 15 controls the writing circuit 8 via the I / O unit 16,
The magnetic layer 7 demagnetizes the magnetic layer 20B of the magnetic card 20 by the magnetic head 7 so that its magnetic polarity is aligned in a certain direction. After that, the CPU 15 causes the punch hole portion 2 of the magnetic card 20.
Whether or not 0A is detected is determined in step S4 based on instruction information from a higher-level device (not shown).

Here, when the detection of the punched hole portion 20A is instructed by the host device and therefore the determination in step S4 is "Y", the CPU 1 causes the magnetic card 20 on which the magnetic polarities are aligned in a certain direction. Each part is read by the magnetic head 9. Then, from the data read by the magnetic head 9, it can be detected that the punch hole portion 20A is not detected at all in the card 20 or that the punch hole portion 20A is opened at an appropriate position. If so, the process proceeds to step S7.
In addition, in cases other than the above, since it is determined as abnormal in the determination of "magnetic punch hole detection" in step S5, error processing is performed in step S6 and this card is stored as a defective card.

Next, in step S7, the punched hole portion 2 of the magnetic card 20 determined to be a good card in step S5.
0A is executed through the optical sensor 5 and the sensor circuit 6 to perform a determination process. If the punch hole 20A cannot be detected normally, error processing is performed in step S8 and this card is stored as a defective card. on the other hand,
If the optical sensor 5 does not detect the punched hole portion 20A at all or can detect that the punched hole portion 20A is opened in the proper position, the CPU 15 determines in step S
It is determined that the magnetic card 20 is a good card by the determination of 7, and the process proceeds to step S9.

In step S9, magnetic information data, that is, value information to be newly given to the magnetic card 20 is created, and in step S10, the write circuit 12 is controlled via the I / O unit 16 to control the magnetic head 11. Thus, this magnetic information is recorded on the magnetic track of the magnetic card 20.

Then, in step S11, the magnetic head 1
When the magnetic information read from the magnetic card 20 by 3 is input through the reproducing circuit 14 and the I / O unit 16, the input value information and the magnetic information before writing are compared and the coincidence is determined. If both data match, this card is judged to be normal and this magnetic card is stored as a good card in step S13.

Thereafter, in step S14, the number of issued cards is counted. If the number of issued cards does not reach the planned number, the issuance result is transferred to the host device in step S16, and the process proceeds to step S17 to take in a new raw card and execute the above-mentioned operation. The card issuing process (that is, the encoding process) similar to the above is continued. In this way, by sequentially recording the value information on the raw card and counting the number of good cards, when the number of good cards reaches the planned issue number and the determination in step S15 becomes “Y”, the expected number of issue cards is reached in step S18. This is notified to the higher-level device and the card issuing process ends. If the value information read from the magnetic track of the magnetic card 20 does not match the information before writing and it is determined to be abnormal in step S11, the process proceeds to step S12 and error processing is performed to store these cards as defective cards. To execute.

In the present embodiment, the case where the card processing device performs the issuing process of the magnetic card 20 has been described, but it is clear that the same can be applied to the case where the issued magnetic card 20 is used by the user. Is. That is,
When the magnetic card 20 is inserted into this apparatus, the magnetic head 7 performs an orientation process to demagnetize the portion of the magnetic card 20 excluding the magnetic track portion. After that, the punching portion 20A of the magnetic card 20 is detected by the magnetic head 9, and if an error occurs, it is ejected as a defective card and the magnetic card 20 is not used. If normal, the punch hole portion 20A is detected by the optical punch hole sensor 5.
Check. Then, if the punch holes are properly formed and the magnetic track has a remaining amount, the use of the card 20 is permitted. When the present apparatus is used as such a card reader, the magnetic head 11.13 and the writing circuit 12
The reproducing circuit 14 is omitted, and the magnetic head 7 records the value information and the magnetic head 9 reads the value information.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, the magnetic card is demagnetized by the second magnetic head before the first magnetic head performs the reading operation on the magnetic card taken in. Therefore, the magnetic polarity of the magnetic card is determined in a fixed direction, and as a result, the presence or absence of the magnetic card taken in, and the accurate detection of the holes and scratches on the magnetic card when the first magnetic head detects it. Can
Therefore, for example, a magnetic card whose punch holes are covered can be accurately detected. Further, since the presence / absence of punch holes in the magnetic card is detected by the optical sensor, the presence / absence of punch holes is detected by the optical sensor and the first magnetic head. Can be detected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a card processing device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing how a punch hole of a card is detected in the above device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing respective punch hole detection states when the card is not demagnetized and when the card is demagnetized.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the above device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Card transport motor, 2 ... Motor drive circuit, 3 ... Card position detection sensor, 4, 6 ... Sensor circuit, 5 ... Optical punch hole sensor, 7, 9, 11, 13 ... Magnetic head, 8,
12 ... Writing circuit, 10, 14 ... Reproducing circuit, 15 ... CP
U.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Takayuki Kamata 3-3-3 Toyosu, Koto-ku, Tokyo NTT Data Communications Corp. (72) Inventor Toru Uematsu 3-Toyosu, Koto-ku, Tokyo 3rd-3rd NTT Data Communications Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A card processing device for loading a magnetic card and detecting the presence or absence of the loaded magnetic card and the holes and scratches on the magnetic card by reading the first magnetic head. A second magnetic head for making the magnetic polarity of the first magnetic pole constant, and demagnetizing the magnetic card by the second magnetic head, and then causing the first magnetic head to perform a reading operation. Reading method. 2. The magnetic card reading method according to claim 1, further comprising an optical sensor for optically detecting the taken-in magnetic card.