JPH10143615A - Card reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To attain miniaturization by shortening a card carrying distance. SOLUTION: This is a card reader in which a magnetic card 21 inserted from a card insertion port 16 is carried by monitor driving, and the recording or reproduction of data is operated by a magnetic head 22. A belt 6 for pressing the magnetic card 21 to a card traveling reference face 19 by abutting to the side face of the magnetic card 21 is arranged between the card insertion port 16 and the magnetic head 22. The belt 6 is stretched between an energizing pulley 11 and a driving pulley 5, and rotationally driven by a driving motor 3 which is started by the insertion of the magnetic card 21. The card traveling reference face 19 is provided with each roller 13. A carrying pulley 12 for carrying the magnetic card 21 by the belt 6 is provided so as to be driven by the belt 6 between the energizing pulley 11 and the driving pulley 5.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a magnetic card and an IC.
The present invention relates to a card reader for a recording card such as a card.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional card reader, at least one of a magnetic card and an IC card on which data is recorded is transported while being sandwiched between a pair of rollers driven by a motor or the like. For example, in a magnetic card reader disclosed in JP-A-5-12498, the magnetic card is conveyed while sandwiching the magnetic card in the thickness direction by three pairs of rollers, and is attached to the magnetic card with respect to the magnetic head. The data is read or written by moving the magnetic tape.

In a card reader, a card insertion slot is formed slightly larger than a magnetic card in consideration of usability, so that a magnetic card is not always inserted straight. For this reason, the card transport distance between the card insertion slot and the magnetic head is set to be sufficiently long so that the magnetic card inserted obliquely reaches the magnetic head after being straightened.

[0004]

However, in the conventional card reader, even if the magnetic card is inserted obliquely, the card is inserted so that the magnetic card reaches the magnetic head after the magnetic card is straightened. Since the card transport distance between the mouth and the magnetic head was sufficiently long, it was difficult to reduce the total length of the card reader, and the card reader could not be downsized.

An object of the present invention is to provide a card reader which can shorten the card transport distance and can be downsized.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a card in which a card inserted from a card insertion slot is conveyed by driving a motor and data is recorded or reproduced by a head. In the reader, a pressing member is provided between the card insertion slot and the head, the pressing member being in contact with the side surface of the card and pressing the card against the card traveling reference surface.

Therefore, the card inserted from the card insertion slot is conveyed in a state of being brought close to the card running reference surface by the pressing member. By being brought close to the card running reference plane, the orientation of the card straightens immediately after insertion,
It is transported as it is.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the pressing member is a rotatable rotating member which is rotatably driven by a motor started by insertion of the card, and the card traveling reference surface includes a plurality of rotatable rollers. It is configured. Therefore, the insertion of the card causes the rotating member to start rotating, and the rotating member conveys the card by applying a frictional force to the side surface of the card while moving the card toward the card traveling reference surface.
Since the card running reference surface includes a plurality of rollers, frictional resistance generated between the card running reference surface and the card is reduced.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the rotating member is a belt for conveying the card by abutting the side surface of the card, and the belt is disposed between the card insertion slot and the head. It is configured such that it is hung between an urging pulley that receives an urging force for pressing the side surface and a driving pulley that is rotationally driven by a motor. Therefore,
When the card is inserted, the drive pulley starts and the belt starts moving. The belt is pressed against the side of the card by an urging pulley. The inserted card is transported to the head by a belt.

Further, according to the present invention, a transport pulley for transporting a card by a belt is provided between the urging pulley and the driving pulley so as to be driven by the belt. Therefore, even after the card is conveyed to the back and passes through the position where the urging pulley is provided, the conveyance pulley presses the belt against the side surface of the card to convey the card to the head.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The configuration of the present invention will be described below in detail based on the best mode shown in the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 3 show an embodiment of a card reader according to the present invention. This card reader is for a magnetic card, for example, and conveys a magnetic card inserted from a card insertion slot by driving a motor, and records or reproduces data with a magnetic head. It should be noted that the magnetic head may be a read-only type or a type that performs reproduction and recording.

An upper guide frame 1 and a lower guide frame 2 which are composite parts of a sheet metal and a mold are attached to a housing 20 of the card reader, and a card traveling path 18 and a card traveling reference plane 19 are set. . Further, a magnetic head 22 is arranged in the middle of the card running path 18.

A pressing member is provided between the card insertion slot 16 of the housing 20 and the magnetic head 22 so as to abut against the side surface of the magnetic card 21 and press the magnetic card 21 toward the card travel reference surface 19. I have.

The pressing member is, for example, a rotatable rotating member which is rotatably driven by the drive motor 3 started by inserting the magnetic card 21. In the present embodiment, the pressing member contacts the side surface of the magnetic card 21 and 21 is a belt 6 that carries the sheet 21. The belt 6 has a card insertion slot 16
And the magnetic pulley 11, which is disposed between the magnetic head 22 and the urging pulley 11 which receives the urging force for pressing the side surface of the magnetic card 21 and the driving pulley 5 which is driven to rotate by the driving motor 3. .

The urging pulley 11 is rotatably supported by a shaft 9 at the tip of a pulley arm 8 rotatably supported by the shaft 7. On the other hand, the drive pulley 5 is disposed near the base end of the pulley arm 8 and is rotatably attached to the housing 20. A transport pulley 12 for transporting the magnetic card 21 by the belt 6 is provided between the urging pulley 11 and the drive pulley 5 so as to follow the belt 6. That is, the transport pulley 12 is disposed near the urging pulley 11, and is rotatably supported by the shaft 10 attached to the pulley arm 8. In addition,
The belt 6 meshes with each of the pulleys 5, 11, and 12 with a tooth shape, thereby preventing slippage during power transmission. As shown in FIG. 4, the cross-sectional shape of the pulley arm 8 is substantially U-shaped, and the belt 6 is disposed inside the pulley arm 8.

A drive motor 3 is provided at a predetermined position of the housing 20, and the drive pulley 5 is rotated by the reduction gear train 4 to move the belt 6. Thereby, the driving force of the driving motor 3 is transmitted to the vicinity of the card insertion slot 16. The drive motor 3 starts when the optical sensor 15 detects the deformation of the leaf spring 14 due to the magnetic card 21. The leaf spring 14
The projection 14a is fixed to the upper guide frame 4 and protrudes from the card traveling path 18 as shown in FIG.

A coil spring 17 is attached to the base end of the pulley arm 8. One end of the coil spring 17 is attached to the housing 20 side (FIG. 6), and the other end is attached to the base end of the pulley arm 8. The coil spring 17 rotates the pulley arm 8 counterclockwise in FIG. 1 around the shaft 7 to cause each of the pulleys 11 and 12 to protrude into the card running path 18, that is, to apply an urging force for pressing the side surface of the magnetic card 21. The driving force of the belt 6 is transmitted to the pulleys 11 and 12 and transmitted to the left side surface (the lower side surface in FIG. 1) of the card 21.

The card running reference surface 19 includes a plurality of rollers 1
3 is provided. That is, the card running reference plane 1
Reference numeral 9 denotes a configuration in which a rotatable roller 13 is slightly projected from a surface formed by a mold portion of each of the guide frames 1 and 2. The card running reference surface 19 is formed straight in the direction in which the magnetic card 21 is inserted.

Next, the operation of the card reader will be described.

When the magnetic card 21 is inserted through the card insertion slot 16, the magnetic card 21 comes into contact with the projecting portion 14a of the leaf spring 14 and lifts the operating portion 14b. Actuator 1
4b closes the optical axis of the optical sensor 15, the motor 3
Is activated to rotate the belt 6 through the reduction gear train 4 and the pulley 5 in a counterclockwise direction in FIG. When the leading end of the magnetic card 21 inserted into the card insertion slot 16 reaches the position of the pulley 11, the magnetic card 21 is pulled by the driving force of the belt 6.

The leading end of the drawn magnetic card 21 is shown in FIG.
When it reaches the position E indicated by the two-dot chain line, the card slot 16
The two sets (four) of the rollers 13 and the pulleys 11 on the side make the magnetic card 21 substantially parallel to the card running reference surface 19 and rush straight into the magnetic head 22.
Then, the magnetic tape of the magnetic card 21 is
, Read / write is started. Since the transport pulley 12 is disposed so as to slightly protrude from the urging pulley 11, the pulley 12 becomes the main feed during reading / writing. The pulleys 11 and 12 may be arranged in parallel to the card transport direction.

When the read / write operation is completed, the magnetic card 21 has reached the position F indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG.
At this position, the magnetic card 21 is disengaged from the pulley 11 and presses the magnetic card 21 with only the pulley 12. Thereafter, the drive motor 3 rotates in the reverse direction, and the toothed belt 6
Rotates clockwise in the figure, and the magnetic card 21 is ejected.

The above-described embodiment is an example of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but is not limited thereto, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, in the above description, the rotation force of the driving motor 3 is transmitted to the driving pulley 5 and the belt 6 is rotated to rotate each of the pulleys 11 and 12.
Alternatively, the first or pulley 12 may be rotated by the drive motor 3.

In the above description, a plurality of rollers 13 are provided on the card travel reference surface 19 to form a roller row. However, a belt may be provided instead of this roller row. Further, the configuration may be such that the rollers 13 are omitted and the magnetic card is brought into contact with the mold surface.

Further, although the card reader dedicated to a magnetic card has been described, the present invention may be applied to a card reader for an IC card, or a card reader that is used for both a magnetic card and an IC card.

[0027]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the pressing member is provided between the card insertion slot and the head, the pressing member being in contact with the side surface of the card and pressing the card against the card running reference surface. Therefore, the direction of the card can be straightened with a short conveyance distance. For this reason, the total length of the card reader can be shortened, and the size can be reduced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the pressing member is a rotatable rotating member that is driven to rotate by a motor started by inserting a card, and the card traveling reference surface includes a plurality of rotatable rollers. Thus, the card can be pressed and conveyed by the rotating member, and the frictional resistance during card conveyance can be reduced by each roller.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the rotating member is a belt that carries the card by contacting the side of the card, and the belt is disposed between the card insertion slot and the head, and the belt is arranged between the card insertion slot and the head. Since the belt is hung between the biasing pulley receiving the biasing force to press the side surface and the driving pulley rotated by the motor, it is possible to convey the card continuously while pressing the card with the belt. it can.

Further, in the invention according to the fourth aspect, a transport pulley for transporting the card by a belt is provided between the urging pulley and the driving pulley so as to be driven by the belt. The card can be conveyed by the conveyance pulley even after the card is conveyed to the back and passes through the position where the biasing pulley is provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an example of an embodiment of a card reader according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing in detail a mechanism for pressing a magnetic card of the card reader of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view showing a card traveling reference plane of the card reader of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the card reader taken along the line IV-IV of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a positional relationship between an optical sensor and a leaf spring of the card reader of FIG. 1;

6 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a mounting structure of a coil spring of the card reader of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 3 drive motor 5 drive pulley 6 belt 11 urging pulley 12 transport pulley 13 roller 16 card insertion slot 18 card running path 19 card running reference surface 21 magnetic card 22 magnetic head

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A card reader which conveys a card inserted from a card insertion slot by driving a motor and records or reproduces data by a head. A card reader, wherein a pressing member for pressing said card against a card running reference surface in contact therewith is arranged. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the pressing member is a rotatable rotating member that is rotatably driven by a motor started by inserting a card, and the card traveling reference surface includes a plurality of rotatable rollers. Item 1. The card reader according to Item 1. 3. The card according to claim 1, wherein the rotating member is a belt that contacts the side surface of the card and conveys the card. 3. The card reader according to claim 2, wherein said card reader is hung between an urging pulley receiving said urging force and a driving pulley rotated by said motor. 4. A transport pulley for transporting cards by the belt is provided between the urging pulley and the drive pulley so as to be driven by the belt. Card reader.