JPH0935020A - Ic card processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an IC card processor which can discharge even a relatively long card type foreign matters without applying any unreasonable force to an IC card. SOLUTION: The Ic card of regular length which is inserted into a card insertion slot has its one-side edge part along its insertion direction supported on the top surface part of a rail part 54 provided long the internal wall 37a of one side plate 37 of a frame 35 and also has its external terminal guided to a position where it is connected to a contact terminal while the rear end side is supported on the lower edge in the card insertion slot. When a card type foreign matters 3 which is shorter than the regular length moves into a card insertion part from the card insertion slot, the card type foreign matters 3 moves while being supported at its one-side edge part only on the top surface part of a rail part 54, so the opposite-side edge part rotates downward and the edge part on the side of the rail part 54 slides down from the top surface of the rail part 54, so that this card type foreign matters 3 is discharged from the opening of the card storage part.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an IC card processing device for receiving an IC card having a memory circuit or the like provided therein and performing a reading / writing process for the IC card.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Unlike a magnetic recording card, an IC card electrically stores various kinds of information in a memory IC and communicates with an external device connected via a terminal provided on an outer surface. It is formed so that information may be transmitted and received by the user.

FIG. 19 shows an example of the IC card 1. A plurality of external terminals 2, 2, ..., 2 are provided at predetermined positions near the front end on the one surface 1a side of the resin card 1. Each external terminal is connected to a memory IC or the like built in near the terminal.

[0004] Unless predetermined information is electrically exchanged via an external terminal, such an IC card cannot know the unique information and the amount information of the card owner. It has the advantage that it is hard to be used illegally and that the contents are not changed by external magnetism, and it has been used instead of a magnetic card.

[0005] Such an IC card processing apparatus for reading and writing information from and to an IC card generally does not have an internal draw-in mechanism, and has an IC card inserted into a card insertion slot.
The C card is received until the external terminal portion enters the inside of the device, the contact terminal is brought into contact with the external terminal of the card in the device, and information is transmitted and received through the contact terminal. The IC card that has been read and written is used by being pulled out by hand.

However, in such a conventional card processing apparatus, when a defective card cut shorter than a regular card for the purpose of mischief is inserted into a card insertion slot, the defective card cannot be pulled out from the outside. The equipment cannot be used.

As a technique for solving this problem, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-271677 discloses an IC card processing device 10 shown in FIG. Opened housing 12
The tip side of the card that has been received inside and passed above the opening is guided by the slanted guide member 13 so as to be largely deflected upward, and a plurality of cards provided so as to face the upper portion of the guide member 13 are provided. It has been proposed that the contact terminal 14 is brought into contact with the external terminal 2 of the card.

According to this technique, when the card-shaped foreign matter 3 shorter than the regular card is inserted from the card insertion opening 11 as shown in FIG. 21, the rear end of the card is inserted into the card insertion opening 1.
When passing 1, the sheet is discharged downward from the opening along the guide member 13. When a foreign object longer than this is inserted, the card is pushed by the succeeding card and is ejected from the opening when the rear end of the defective card passes through the card insertion port 11.

[0009]

However, in the conventional IC card processing apparatus as described above, the external terminals of the card are contacted between the leading end and the intermediate portion of the IC card by strongly bending the card itself. Since the terminals are in contact with each other, a large force is applied to an integrated circuit such as a memory IC buried near the external terminal, which may cause a failure in the internal integrated circuit.

In order to prevent this, for example, if the inclination of the guide member 13 is made gentle, the opening for discharging the card-like foreign matter becomes small, and only a very short foreign matter can be discharged. In addition, if the length of the lower side of the guide member 13 is shortened in order to widen the opening while the inclination of the guide member is reduced, the leading end of the regular card inserted slightly downward cannot be received by the guide member, The regular card is ejected from the opening, causing a great deal of damage to the user.

As described above, in the conventional card processing device,
It has been extremely difficult to discharge relatively long card-like foreign substances without applying excessive force to the IC card and to reliably guide the regular card to the terminal contact position. An object of the present invention is to provide an IC card processing device that solves this problem.

[0012]

In order to solve the above problems, an IC card processing device of the present invention is a card slot having a horizontally elongated slit-shaped card insertion port for receiving an IC card, and a card of the card slot. The board and the side plate disposed on the back side of the board and provided on the lower surface side of the board so as to face the inner wall surfaces of the board at an interval substantially the same as the width of the card insertion slot. A frame, which is surrounded by the lower surface and the inner wall surfaces of the both side plates and forms a card housing portion whose lower surface is open, and a frame which is supported by the substrate and is inserted to a predetermined position in the card housing portion.
A contact terminal that contacts an external terminal of the C card, and one edge of a regular length card that is formed along the inner wall surface of one side plate of the frame and that enters the card receiving portion from the card insertion surface And guides it to the predetermined position, and when a card-like foreign substance shorter than the regular length enters the card accommodation part, one edge of the card-like foreign substance is slid from the upper surface part by its own weight. And a rail part.

With this configuration, in the IC card processing apparatus of the present invention, the IC card having the regular length inserted from the card insertion slot has one side edge portion along the insertion direction of the card of one side of the frame. Supported on the upper surface of the rail portion provided along the inner wall of the side plate and guided to a predetermined position,
The external terminal is connected to the contact terminal. Further, when a card-like foreign substance shorter than the regular length enters the card accommodation part from the card insertion slot, one edge along the insertion direction of the card-like foreign substance slides down from the upper surface of the rail part by its own weight, It is discharged from the opening of the storage part.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 9 show the external appearance and internal structure of an IC card processing device 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention. This IC card processing device 20 is, as shown in FIG. 1, a public telephone housing 1 that can be used by an IC card.
The IC card that is mounted on the IC card 8 and manually inserted by the user is received up to a position where it can be withdrawn, and the information of the IC card is read and written.

This IC card processing device 20 has an I
A card slot 22 fixed so as to project from the housing 18 for receiving a C card;
2 and a housing 32 fixed to the rear part thereof.

The card slot 22 is formed in a substantially box shape having an opening on the back side, and on the front side thereof, a shutter accommodating portion 23 which largely bulges forward from the rear side, and a height forward of the shutter accommodating portion 23. Insertion / removal operation section 24 formed with few
And the front surface 23a of the shutter housing portion 23 and the front surface 24a of the insertion / removal operation portion 24.
As shown in FIG. 2, a horizontally long slit-shaped card insertion slot 25 is continuously formed in the slot.

Further, flanges 26, 26 are provided on both sides of the card slot 22, and the flanges 26, 26 are screwed to the inner surface side of the housing 18 so that the entire processing apparatus is mounted on the housing 18. It is supported.

The shutter accommodating portion 23 of the card slot 22
A shutter member 27 is provided behind the side card insertion slot 25 as shown in FIG. Shutter member 27
Is a shutter plate 28 formed in a horizontally long shape so as to close the card insertion slot 25, a shutter lever 29 extending forward from one end side of the shutter plate 28, and projecting laterally from both ends of the shutter plate 28. Shafts 30, 30 and shutter plate 28
Is integrally formed with a protrusion 31 protruding upward from the center upper end. As shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, an inclined portion 29a is provided so that the height gradually increases toward the card insertion slot 25, and a step portion 29b is provided at the rear of the inclined portion 29a.

The shafts 30, 30 of the shutter member 27 are
Is rotatably supported by bearings 40, 40 of a frame 35, which will be described later, and the upper end of the protrusion 31 is in contact with the lower surface of a leaf spring 41 attached to the frame 35. 27 is always urged so that the shutter plate 28 and the shutter lever 29 receive a downward force, that is, a force of closing the card insertion slot 25.

The shutter member 27 has a shaft 30, when the tip of the card inserted into the card insertion slot 25 of the card slot 22 comes into contact with the inclined portion 29a of the shutter lever 29 and the shutter lever 29 is pushed upward. The shutter plate 28 is rotated upward with 30 as a fulcrum to retract upward, and the card insertion slot 25 is opened.

The housing 32 constitutes the main body of the IC card processing apparatus 20, and is formed in a rectangular box shape with the upper cover 33, the frame 35 and the lower cover 53.
The front end portion is inserted and fixed so as to be inscribed in the opening edge on the back side of the card slot 22.

The upper cover 33 is formed in a rectangular flat plate shape,
It is fixed so as to close the upper surface of the frame 35, and on the lower surface of the rear portion thereof, as shown in FIG. 7, a restriction portion 34 is provided so as to restrict the upward movement of a slide member 49 described later. .

The frame 35 has a substantially rectangular substrate 36, and side plates 3 provided upright on both sides of the substrate 36 so as to face each other.
7, 38 and a rear plate 39 that connects the rear ends of the side plates 37, 38
As a result, the outer shape viewed from above is formed into a substantially rectangular shape as shown in FIG. 5, and the shape viewed from the card slot 22 side is formed into a substantially H shape as shown in FIG.

A front end portion 36a of the substrate 36 extends upward, and bearings 40, 40 for supporting the shafts 30, 30 of the shutter member 27 are projectingly provided on the front surface of the front end portion 36a.

A leaf spring 41 for pressing the projection 31 of the shutter member 27 from above is attached to the upper surface of the front end portion 36a.

On the other hand, the lower inner wall surface 37 of the side plates 37, 38
a and 38a are parallel to each other with a distance equal to the width of the card insertion slot 25 and are orthogonal to the lower surface 36b of the substrate 36 in order to linearly receive the IC card inserted from the card insertion slot. There is. In the frame 35, the IC card inserted from the card insertion slot 25 enters the card accommodation portion 42 surrounded by the lower surface 36b of the substrate 36 of the frame 35 and the lower inner wall surfaces 37a and 38b of the side plates 37 and 38. It is fixed in position.

The terminal board mounting hole 4 is provided at the substantially central portion of the board 36.
3 are formed through. A terminal plate 44 is fixed in the terminal plate mounting hole 43. On the lower surface side of the terminal board 44,
Four contact terminals 45 for contacting each external terminal of the IC card that has entered the card housing 42 are provided in two rows. Each of the contact terminals 45 is formed of a conductive member having a spring property (for example, phosphor bronze, etc.) and bent into a substantially V shape, one end side of which is fixed to the terminal plate 44, and the other end side thereof is provided on the terminal plate 44. It is supported by the terminal plate 44 so as to be inserted into the respective terminal holes 44a, and when pressed from below, it moves upward while elastically deforming, and its elastic return force opposes the pressing force from below.

Grooves 46 and 4 are provided on both sides of the terminal board 44, respectively.
6 are provided, and spring hooks 47, 47 are provided at the front end of each groove 46.

At the rear portion of the terminal board 44, a slide base 48 having a predetermined width is provided which is formed higher than the upper surface 36c of the substrate.

On the slide base 48, a slide member 49 formed in a reverse concave shape is placed. The slide member 49, as shown in FIGS.
A rectangular upper plate 49a having a slightly wider width and the upper plate 4
9a to be inserted into the grooves 46, 46 from both sides of the card housing 4
It has card receivers 49b and 49b extending downward to 2, and is supported so as to be slidable in the front-rear direction with the lower surface of the upper plate 49a abutting on the upper surface of the slide base 48.

Spring hooks 50, 50 are provided in the middle of the card receivers 49b, 49b, respectively. The spring hooks 50, 50 and the groove 4 of the board 36 are provided.
A spring 5 for returning the slide member 49 to a predetermined position when the card is pulled out between the spring hooks 47 and 47 in the reference numerals 6 and 46.
1, 51 are hung.

A micro switch 52 is attached to the rear portion of the substrate 36 as a sensor for detecting that the card has been fully inserted. Micro switch 52
Is attached to a position where when the slide member 49 is pushed to the rearmost portion, the slide member 49 is pushed by the rear portion of one of the card receivers 49b and turned on.

The contact terminals 45 and the micro switch 52 are connected to a control section (not shown) of a public telephone through a circuit board (not shown). In addition to the normal call control, this control unit determines whether the card is inserted or removed based on the on / off state of the micro switch 52, and the contact terminals 45 are connected.
Read / write information to / from the inserted card via.

On the other hand, at the bottom of the frame 35, the lower cover 5
3 is mounted parallel to the substrate 36. The lower cover 53, as shown in FIGS.
A thin rectangular plate having substantially the same outer shape as that of a rail portion 54 extending along one side edge thereof with a narrow width by a predetermined length, and a rail portion 5.
4 extending from the rear part to the other side edge side with a wide width 55
It has a notched shape leaving behind.

One side edge 53a on the rail portion 54 side of the lower cover 53 is a lower inner wall 37a of the side plate 37 of the frame 35.
And the rear edge portion 53b on the bottom plate 55 side is fixed along the lower inner wall 39a of the rear plate 39 of the frame 35, and the other side edge portion 53c of the bottom plate portion 55 is on the side plate 38 of the frame 35. It is fixed along the lower inner wall 38a.

Further, the rail portion 5 opposite to the side edge portion 53a
An inclined surface 54a that inclines downward is provided at the side edge portion of No. 4.
Is provided.

The bottom plate portion 55 has one side edge portion 53a.
To the other side edge 53c, its front edge is angled with respect to the rear edge 53b so that its width decreases uniformly.
An inclined surface 55a that is continuous with a is provided.

The upper surface 53d of the lower cover 53 and the substrate 3
The distance from the lower surface 36b of the IC card 6 is larger than the thickness of the IC card. Further, the distance D from the lower surface 36b of the substrate 36 to the upper surface of the rail portion 54 (the same as the upper surface 53d of the lower cover 53 in this embodiment) and the protrusion width W from the lower inner wall surface 38a of the side plate 38 of the rail portion 54 are , Rail part 5
When a card-like foreign matter having a length and a width of a regular card shorter than the length L of 4 is received from the card insertion slot 25, one edge of the card-like foreign matter is supported on the rail portion 54, It is set so that the one side edge portion on the opposite side rotates to a position below the lower end of the lower inner wall surface 38a of the side plate 38 due to the weight of the card-like foreign matter, and the one side edge portion slides down from the upper surface of the rail portion 54.

Next, the operation of the card processing device 20 will be described. Regular IC card 1 is in card slot 2
When the card is inserted into the card insertion slot 25 side of the second shutter housing portion 23 side, the shutter lever 29 is pushed upward and the shutter plate 28 is retracted upward, as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 12A, the card is guided to the card storage portion 42 side.

At this time, the IC card 1 is supported by the lower edge of the card insertion slot 25 of the card slot 22 and the upper surface of the rail portion 54 of the lower cover 53 as shown in FIG. Go almost horizontally inside.

Then, the front end 1b of the IC card 1 contacts the card receiver 49b of the slide member 49 and slides to a position where the slide member 49 contacts the rear plate 39 of the frame 35 as shown in FIG. Then, the IC card 1
The contact terminals 45 come into contact with the respective external terminals (not shown), and the microswitch 52 is turned on.

At this time, the rear end 1c of the IC card 1
11 passes through the lower end of the shutter lever 29 as shown in FIG. 11B and engages with the stepped portion 29b of the shutter lever 29 which is lowered by the urging force of the leaf spring 41, and the backward movement is restricted. However, the rear portion of the IC card 1 is exposed from the insertion / removal operation portion 24 of the card slot 22, as shown in FIG.

Further, since the restoring force of the spring 51 is set to be weaker than the force of the leaf spring 41 on the shutter member 27 side, even if the IC card 1 is released in this state, the card does not return.

When the micro switch 52 is detected to be turned on, information is read from and written to the memory in the IC card 1 via the contact terminals 45.

When the IC card exposed at the insertion / removal operation section 24 of the card slot 22 is pulled after the use of the call ends, the shutter lever 29 moves upward and the return regulation for the IC card 1 is released. , The IC card 1 can be ejected.

Further, for example, as shown in FIG. 14, the card-shaped foreign matter 3 shorter than the length of the rail portion 54 of the frame 35.
When the card-shaped foreign matter 3 is inserted into the card housing portion 42 through the card insertion slot 25, the card-shaped foreign matter 3 is supported by the rail portion 54 at one side edge portion thereof as a fulcrum, and the opposite side is caused by its own weight. The card-like foreign matter 3 slides down from one side of the rail 54 by this rotation, and is discharged from the opened lower surface of the card housing 42. Therefore, there is no hindrance to the next card insertion, and there is no possibility that the use of the device becomes impossible.

If a card-like foreign object shorter than the regular card and having a length equal to or longer than the rail portion 54 is inserted, the slide member 49 cannot be pushed all the way to the end, and when the hand is released, the card-like foreign object is released by the spring. The rear portion is pushed out by 51 so as to be exposed from the insertion / removal operation portion 24. Therefore, the card-shaped foreign matter can be easily pulled out from the card slot 22, and the next card insertion can be performed without any trouble.

Also, a regular IC card 1 with little warpage
Is supported by the card insertion slot 25 and the rail portion 54, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 6 (a), it enters almost horizontally to the terminal contact position. However, as shown in FIG. 16 (b), when a warped regular IC card 1'is inserted, it warps downward. I
As shown in FIG. 17, the front edge portion of the C card 1 ′ has an inclined surface 55 formed on the front edge portion of the bottom plate portion 55 of the lower cover 53.
It can come into contact with a, be slid upward, ride on the upper surface of the bottom plate portion 55, and be inserted to the terminal contact position. Further, since the inclined surface 55a has an angle such that the contact position with the front edge of the card is gradually displaced in the direction of the side plate 38, even if the lower end is located below the bottom plate portion 55, the card is largely warped. However, the front end portion can be guided onto the bottom plate portion 55.

Further, even if a foreign substance having an outer shape smaller than that of the card-shaped foreign substance 3 stays in the card slot 22, the foreign substance is discharged from the lower surface of the card accommodating portion 42 when the next card is inserted.

As described above, in this IC card processing device, an unreasonable external force is not applied to the regular card,
The external terminal can be reliably received up to the position where it comes into contact with the contact terminal, and furthermore, card clogging due to a card shape or other foreign matter can be prevented.

[0051]

Other Embodiments In the above embodiment, the rail portion 5
Although the regular length card that passed above 4 was guided onto the bottom plate 55 to connect the external terminals of the card to the contact terminals,
If the bottom plate portion 55 is also opened by using a mechanism that pushes up the lower surface of the card from below in conjunction with the slide member 49 without providing the bottom plate portion 55, the opening surface of the card accommodating portion can be further increased, Failures due to foreign matter are further reduced.

In the above embodiment, the rail portion is provided on the lower cover which is separate from the side plate of the frame.
The present invention is not limited to this, and the rail portion may be integrally formed on the side plate of the frame so as to project.

Further, the rail portion of the above-mentioned embodiment is provided with an inclined surface so that the card-like foreign matter can be rotated and slid off from the rail portion even if the gap between the upper surface and the lower surface of the substrate is small. However, if a large gap can be secured between the upper surface of the rail portion and the lower surface of the substrate, as shown in (a) of FIG.
You may use the rail part 60 of a rectangular cross section.

Further, in the above embodiment, the lower surface of the substrate is formed flat, but as shown in FIG.
If an escape groove (which may be rectangular or arcuate) 62 is provided in the upper portion of the rail portion 61 on the lower surface of 6, the distance between the lower surface 36b of the central portion of the substrate 36 and the upper surface of the rail portion 61 can be reduced. .

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the card slot 22 having the card insertion opening and the frame 35 are formed separately, but they may be formed integrally, and the shapes thereof may be various. Deformation is possible.

In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to an IC card processing device in which a card is manually inserted and withdrawn, but the card is inserted between the card insertion slot and the card accommodating portion. The present invention is also applicable to an IC card processing apparatus that has a mechanism for conveying a card, draws the card inserted from the card insertion port to the card accommodation unit, and ejects the card for which reading and writing processing has finished from the card insertion port or card ejection port. Can be applied.

[0057]

As described above, according to the IC card processing apparatus of the present invention, the rail portion is provided only on the inner wall surface of one side plate of the frame which constitutes the card accommodating portion, and the regular length which is inserted from the card insertion slot is obtained. When the card-shaped foreign matter shorter than the normal length enters the card storage part, one side edge of the card-shaped foreign matter is supported by the upper surface of the rail part and guided to a predetermined position. It is designed to be slid down from the top surface of the rail section by its own weight.

Therefore, the external terminal portion of the regular IC card can be reliably received up to the terminal contact position without giving a force to forcibly bend the external terminal portion, and a large opening is formed in the card accommodating portion. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the card from jamming by discharging the card-shaped foreign matter shorter than the regular card and other foreign matter from the opening.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a side view of one embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of one embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the embodiment with the top cover removed.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged side view of a main part of the embodiment.

7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

8 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

9 is a sectional view taken along line CC of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a main part of one embodiment.

FIG. 11 is an enlarged side view for explaining the operation of the main part of the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a schematic side view for explaining the operation of the embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a schematic plan view for explaining the operation of the embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a schematic plan view of one embodiment when a card-like foreign substance is inserted.

FIG. 15 is a front view of a main part of one embodiment when a card-like foreign object is inserted.

FIG. 16 is a front view of the main part for explaining the operation of the embodiment depending on the presence or absence of warpage.

FIG. 17 is a schematic plan view for explaining the operation of the embodiment depending on the presence or absence of warpage.

FIG. 18 is a schematic plan view of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an IC card.

FIG. 20 is a schematic side view showing the structure of a conventional device.

FIG. 21 is a schematic side view when a card-like foreign object is inserted into a conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 IC Card 3 Card-like Foreign Object 20 IC Card Processing Device 22 Card Slot 25 Card Insert 35 Frame 36 Substrate 37, 38 Side Plates 37a, 38a Inner Wall 42 Card Housing 45 Contact Terminal 53 Lower Cover 54 Rail

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Ryuichi Saito 1-1-6 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nihon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A card slot having a horizontally elongated slit-shaped card insertion port for receiving an IC card, and a card slot disposed behind the card insertion port of the card slot,
The board and side plates on the lower surface side of the board are installed upright so that the inner wall surfaces of the board face each other at an interval substantially the same as the width of the card insertion slot. A frame that forms a card housing that is surrounded and has an open bottom surface; a contact terminal that is supported by the substrate and that contacts an external terminal of an IC card that is inserted to a predetermined position in the card housing; and one side plate of the frame. Is formed along the inner wall surface of
A card having a regular length that enters the card receiving section from the card insertion slot is supported by an upper surface to guide it to the predetermined position, and card-like foreign matter shorter than the regular length enters the card receiving section. In such a case, the IC card processing device is provided with a rail part for sliding down one side edge part of the card-shaped foreign matter from its upper surface part by its own weight.