JPH10283441A - Rewritable card, and method and device for rewriting - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten the time needed for printing by providing a printable area which is so set as to print and erase characters, a recording part for writing and reading out the final position of the area where the characters are printed in printing operation, etc. SOLUTION: On the top surface of the rewritable card 21, the printable area is set closely to the front end side of the rewritable card 21 and in this printable area, characters can be printed and erased. For the purpose, a rewritable layer is formed of a thermally reversible recording material in the printable area. Then magnetic stripes as recording parts consisting of three tracks, i.e., 1st to 3rd tracks 22a to 22c are formed on the reverse surface of the rewritable card 21. After current printing operation ends, the final position longitudinal coordinate 26 and final position lateral coordinate 27 are written to record the final area of the area where the characters are printed through the current printing operation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rewritable card, a rewritable method, and a rewritable device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a card-shaped information recording medium,
A rewritable card using a thermoreversible recording material is provided. In the rewritable card, by heating or cooling the thermoreversible recording material under set conditions, a character can be written in a predetermined printable area. Can be printed or erased.

FIG. 2 shows a conventional rewritable card. In the figure, 11 is a rewritable card, 12
Is a printable area set on the front or back surface of the rewritable card 11, and characters can be printed or erased in the printable area 12. AR1 is an area where characters are printed in the previous printing operation and the current printing operation, AR2 is an area where characters are printed in the current printing operation, and AR3 is an unused area.

[0004]

However, in the conventional rewritable card, when characters are to be printed in the area AR2 in addition to the characters printed in the area AR1, it is difficult to print characters only in the area AR2. It is not possible to temporarily (once)
After erasing, it is necessary to reprint characters in the areas AR1 and AR2.

[0005] That is, when printing characters in the area AR2, the entire characters in the printable area 12 are erased.
Characters printed by the previous printing operation are stored in area AR
1 and a new character needs to be printed in the area AR2. Therefore, the time required for printing becomes long. The present invention solves the problems of the conventional rewritable card, and enables a new rewritable card, a rewritable method, and a rewritable card capable of printing a new character without temporarily erasing a character printed by a previous printing operation. It is intended to provide a device.

[0006]

For this purpose, in a rewritable card according to the present invention, a printable area set for printing and erasing characters and a final position of an area where characters are printed in a printing operation are set. A recording unit for writing and reading. In the rewritable method of the present invention, the last position of the area where the character was printed in the previous printing operation is read from the recording section of the rewritable card, and the printing start position is set corresponding to the last position, and the printing start position is set. The printing of the character is started at the step, and the final position of the area where the character is printed in the current printing operation is written in the recording unit.

In the rewritable device according to the present invention, the transport means for transporting the rewritable card, and the recording for writing and reading the final position of the area where the characters are printed in the printing operation to the recording section of the rewritable card. Means, a printing start position setting means for reading a final position of an area where characters are printed in a previous printing operation from the recording unit, and setting a printing start position in correspondence with the final position; And printing means for starting printing.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the back surface of the rewritable card according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the front surface of the rewritable card according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

In the drawing, reference numeral 21 denotes a JIS I type rewritable card, and a printable area 30 is set on the front surface of the rewritable card 21 toward the front end (the upper end in FIG. 3) of the rewritable card 21. Characters can be printed or erased in the printable area 30. For this purpose, a rewritable layer (not shown) made of a thermoreversible recording material is formed in the printable area 30, and by heating or cooling the rewritable layer, predetermined characters can be printed or erased. can do. AR11 is an area where characters are printed in the last two printing operations, AR11
12 is an area where characters were printed in the previous printing operation,
AR13 is an area where characters are printed in the current printing operation, and AR14 is an unused area.

[0010] On the back surface of the rewritable card 21, three tracks 22a to 22c are formed.
A magnetic stripe 22 is formed as a recording section constituted by tracks. Also, the first and third tracks 2
Prescribed magnetic data is recorded on 2a and 22c, and magnetic data 24 on a print position is recorded on the second track 22b.

The magnetic data 24 has a start code (STX).
25, the area A where characters were printed in the previous printing operation
The vertical coordinate indicating the final position of R12, that is, the final position vertical coordinate 26, the horizontal coordinate indicating the final position of the area AR12 where the character was printed in the previous printing operation, that is, the final position horizontal coordinate 27, the end Code (ETX) 2
8 and a parity (LRC) 29 for checking the magnetic data 24. Therefore, by reading the final position vertical coordinate 26 and the final position horizontal coordinate 27, it is possible to know the final position of the area AR12 where characters were printed in the previous printing operation. When the current printing operation is completed, the final position vertical coordinate 26
And writing the final position lateral coordinate 27,
Area AR13 where characters were printed in this printing operation
Can be recorded.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a rewrite device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the drawing, card transport rollers 31 and 32 as transport means are disposed at a predetermined distance from each other on a card transport path 33, and are rotated by driving a drive motor (not shown) to rotate the rewritable card 21. Is transported. Numeral 35 denotes a magnetic head as recording means which is disposed so as to face the back surface of the rewritable card 21, and writes and reads magnetic data on and from the magnetic stripe 22 (FIG. 1) formed on the back surface of the rewritable card 21. is there. Reference numeral 36 denotes a thermal head which is provided so as to face the surface of the rewritable card 21, and serves as a printing means for printing and erasing characters in a printable area 30 formed on the surface of the rewritable card 21. The thermal head 36 is formed by arranging a plurality of resistance heating elements (not shown) in a line, and prints predetermined characters in accordance with print data sent from a control unit (not shown).

For example, when the rewritable card 21 is a point card issued at a store or the like, a number of stars and the like are printed on the printable area 30 by the number corresponding to the purchase amount. When the rewritable card 21 is a medical examination card, for example, the date and time of the medical examination are recorded in the printable area 30.
Is printed on FIG. 5 is a control circuit block diagram of the rewrite device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 41 denotes a control unit for controlling the entire rewriting device, and the control unit 41 comprises a CPU, a memory, and the like (not shown). Reference numeral 35 denotes a control unit 41 via a read amplifier 45 and a magnetic write driver 46.
, The first of the rewritable card 21 (FIG. 1),
A magnetic head that writes predetermined magnetic data on the third tracks 22a and 22c and magnetic data 24 on the printing position on the second track 22b by a magnetic write driver 46 and reads it by a read amplifier 45, respectively. It is. Reference numeral 36 denotes a thermal head, and 47 denotes a driver for driving the thermal head 36. The thermal head 36 receives print data from the control unit 41 and prints characters on the rewritable card 21 according to the print data. .

Reference numeral 43 denotes card transport rollers 31, 32.
A drive motor (M) 42 for rotating (FIG. 4) is a motor driver for driving the drive motor 43 in response to an instruction from the control unit 41. Next, the operation of the rewrite device having the above configuration will be described. First, when the operator inserts the rewritable card 21 into an unillustrated insertion / ejection port of the rewritable device, the motor driver 42 drives the drive motor 43 and the card transport roller 3
The rewritable card 21 is sucked by rotating 1 and 32, and is conveyed over the magnetic head 35. At this time, the magnetic head 35 reads the magnetic data 24 recorded on the second track 22b, and sends the magnetic data 24 to the control unit 41 via the read amplifier 45.

The printing start position setting means (not shown) of the control unit 41 determines that the character was printed in the previous printing operation in accordance with the final position vertical coordinate 26 and the final position horizontal coordinate 27 of the magnetic data 24. The final position of the area AR12 (FIG. 3) is known, and the printing start position of the area AR13 where characters are to be printed in the current printing operation is set in correspondence with the final position. In this case, the printing start position is set so that characters printed in the previous printing operation are not overwritten by characters printed in the current printing operation.

Subsequently, the control unit 41 drives the drive motor 43 by the motor driver 42 to rotate the card transport rollers 31 and 32 to transport the rewritable card 21, and the printing start position is opposed to the thermal head 36. Is reached, the thermal head 36 is driven by the driver 47, and the area A is set at the printing start position.
Printing of the character on R13 is started.

Next, the control unit 41 obtains the final position of the area AR13 where the characters are printed in the current printing operation based on the printing start position and the data amount of the printing data, and re-writs the rewritable card 21 again. The sheet is conveyed onto the head 35, and the final position vertical coordinate 26 and the final position horizontal coordinate 27 are updated. After that, the control unit 41 rotates the card transport rollers 31 and 32 and makes the rewritable card 2
1 is discharged from the insertion / discharge port.

As described above, when characters are to be printed in the area AR13 in addition to the characters printed in the areas AR11 and AR12, the characters printed in the areas AR11 and AR12 are not erased once but newly added to the area AR13. Since characters can be printed on a sheet, the time required for printing can be shortened. Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In addition, about what has the same structure as 1st Embodiment, the description is abbreviate | omitted by attaching the same code | symbol. For convenience of explanation, the area AR13 where characters are printed in the current printing operation is the area A
Description will be made as an unused area as in R14.

In this case, the control unit 41 (FIG. 5) controls the final position vertical coordinate 26 (FIG. 1) and the final position horizontal coordinate 27
In the printable area 30 (FIG. 3)
13 and AR14 are calculated, and all characters to be printed in the current printing operation are stored in the areas AR13 and AR14.
14 is determined. Then, the control unit 41 converts all the characters into the area AR13,
When it is determined that writing can be performed on the AR 14, the drive motor 43 is driven by the motor driver 42 to rotate the card transport rollers 31 and 32 to transport the rewritable card 21, and the print start position faces the thermal head 36. When the position is reached, the thermal head 36 is driven by the driver 47 to start printing characters on the area AR13 at the printing start position.

When the control unit 41 determines that all the characters cannot be written in the areas AR13 and AR14, it drives the drive motor 43 by the motor driver 42 to rotate the card transport rollers 31 and 32. The rewritable card 21 is conveyed and the printable area 30
When the top position of the head reaches the position facing the thermal head 36, the thermal head 36 is driven by the driver 47 to start printing of characters at the head position.

In each of the above embodiments, the magnetic data 24 relating to the printing position is recorded on the second track 22b of the JIS I type rewritable card 21. 1, recording on the third tracks 22a and 22c,
It can also be recorded on the tracks of SII type rewritable cards. It can also be recorded on an IC chip or the like of an IC card.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified based on the gist of the present invention, and they are not excluded from the scope of the present invention.

[0024]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, in a rewritable card, characters are printed,
It has a printable area set for erasing and a recording unit for writing and reading the final position of the area where characters are printed in the printing operation.

In this case, when a character is to be printed in addition to the character printed in the previous printing operation, a new character is printed without temporarily erasing the character printed in the previous printing operation. So you can
The time required for printing can be shortened. In the rewriting method of the present invention, the last position of the area where the character was printed in the previous printing operation is read from the recording unit of the rewritable card, the printing start position is set corresponding to the last position, and the printing start position is set. The printing of the character is started at the step, and the final position of the area where the character is printed in the current printing operation is written in the recording unit.

In this case, the last position of the area where the character was printed in the previous printing operation is known, the printing start position is set corresponding to the last position, and the character printing in the current printing operation is performed at the printing start position. Can be started, so that the time required for printing can be shortened. In the rewritable device of the present invention, a transport unit for transporting the rewritable card, and a recording unit for writing or reading the final position of the area where characters are printed in a printing operation on a recording unit of the rewritable card,
A print start position setting means for reading a last position of an area where characters are printed in a previous printing operation from the recording unit, and setting a print start position corresponding to the last position; and printing characters at the print start position. And printing means for starting.

In this case, the last position of the area where the character was printed in the previous printing operation is read by the recording means, the printing start position is set by the printing start position setting means so as to correspond to the last position, and the printing means is set by the printing means. Since the printing of characters can be started at the printing start position, the time required for printing can be shortened.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a back surface of a rewritable card according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a conventional rewritable card.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a front surface of the rewritable card according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a rewrite device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a control circuit block diagram of the rewrite device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 21 Rewritable card 22 Magnetic stripe 26 Final position vertical coordinate 28 Final position horizontal coordinate 30 Printable area 31, 32 Card transport roller 35 Magnetic head 36 Thermal head 41 Control unit AR12 Area where characters were printed in previous print operation AR13 Area where characters were printed in this printing operation AR14 Unused area

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A recording unit for writing or reading (a) a printable area set for printing and erasing characters, and (b) a final position of an area where characters are printed in a printing operation. And a rewritable card comprising: (A) reading a last position of an area where characters are printed in a previous printing operation from a recording section of the rewritable card; (b) setting a printing start position corresponding to the last position; c) starting printing of characters at the print start position, and (d) writing the final position of the area where the characters are printed in the current printing operation to the recording unit. 3. The rewriting method according to claim 2, wherein the printing start position is set so that characters printed in a previous printing operation are not overwritten by characters printed in a current printing operation. (A) determining whether all characters to be printed in the current printing operation can be written in an unused area in the printable area;
(B) when all characters to be printed in the current printing operation cannot be written to an unused area in the printable area, the print start position is set to the head position of the printable area. Rewriting method. 5. A recording means for conveying (a) a rewritable card, and (b) writing or reading a final position of an area where characters are printed in a printing operation to a recording section of the rewritable card. Means,
(C) printing start position setting means for reading a last position of an area where characters are printed in a previous printing operation from the recording unit, and setting a printing start position corresponding to the last position; A printing means for starting printing of characters at a start position.