JPH1074281A - Card issuing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a card issuing device capable of easily executing card cassette storing work. SOLUTION: This device is provided with a cassette track formed by laminating plural cassette storing parts each of which can store a card cassette so as to optionally eject it and an identification(ID) information part 13 indicating the sort information of a card stored in the cassette 3 is formed on each cassette 3. At the time of starting a power supply, the ID information of the cassette 3 is read out in each of all the cassette storing parts and positional relation between each cassette storing part and each card cassette 3 is recognized based on the sort information of the read ID information part 13. Consequently the number of card cassettes to be loaded can optionally be selected.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a card issuing device used in a convenience store for issuing various cards, for example, a prepaid card such as a telephone card.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the spread of prepaid cards represented by telephone cards in recent years, various card issuing devices for handling thin and flexible cards have been proposed and put into practical use. As an example, see, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 5-92.
Referring to Japanese Patent Publication No. 876, an issuing device in which about 50 prepaid cards of different types such as face value and pattern are stored in advance in a plurality of card cassettes, and these card cassettes are covered with a common opening / closing door. The card is set in advance in a cassette mounting portion in the main body, and when a card issuance request is made, one card is taken out of a card cassette containing a target card by a pickup roller and is issued from a card issuing port. There is something like that. On one surface of the case main body of the card cassette, there is formed a roller entry opening for allowing the pickup roller to enter into contact with the top card in the case main body.

In such a card issuing apparatus, when looking at the configuration around the cassette mounting section, a mounting section for mounting the card cassettes in a stacked state is formed, and a pickup means including a pickup roller for each card cassette is provided. It is provided separately. Therefore, only one target card is taken out from the card cassette by rotating the pickup roller corresponding to the target card cassette by bringing the pickup roller into contact with the card by the solenoid, and is issued from the corresponding card issuing port.

Although not shown in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 5-92876, the conventional card issuing apparatus has a plurality of cassette storage sections for storing card cassettes in the mounting section. The card cassettes stored in the respective cassette storage units are determined in advance so that the target card cassette is selected from the following. Further, the types of cards stored in each card cassette are determined in advance. Therefore, when a card issuance request is issued, the position of the card cassette in which the target card is stored is known, so that the pickup roller corresponding to the target card cassette is brought into contact with the target card and rotated. This enables the issuance of a target card. Some of such card issuing devices have a pair of a card cassette and a cassette storage section in which grooves and projections that match each other are formed. In this card issuing device, the groove is formed at a different position for each card cassette, and the projection is formed at a different position for each cassette storage unit. Therefore, when the card cassette is stored in the paired cassette storage section, the groove and the projection match, and the card cassette is stored in the cassette storage section. However, the card cassette is stored in the wrong cassette storage section. In such a case, the card cassette is not accommodated in the cassette accommodating portion because the groove and the convex do not match.

[0005]

However, in the above-described card issuing apparatus, it is troublesome to store the card cassettes in the cassette storage section in association with each other. In addition, the shape of the card cassette is different for each type of card, and the mounting location of each cassette is specified, so that there is no freedom in selecting the cassette mounting location and lacks flexibility. This means that if the number of card cassettes
This means that it is necessary to check the mounting location one by one and store it, which is a cumbersome and time-consuming operation.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
A plurality of card cassettes each accommodating a plurality of cards so as to be able to be taken out, a cassette rack provided with a plurality of cassette accommodating sections stacked and accommodating the card cassettes in the respective cassette accommodating sections, and a cassette; A carrier device having a carrier unit that is movable across the entire range in the stacking direction of the storage units, and one card mounted on the carrier unit and stored in the card cassette.
Including a pick-up roller for taking out only one card, one card ejection device shared by all the card cassettes,
A guide device for guiding the card removed by the card removal device to a card issuing port; an identification information portion formed for each card cassette and indicating type information of the card stored in each of the card cassettes; Reading means for reading the identification information portions of the card cassettes stored in all the cassette storage portions at the time of insertion, and storing the cassettes based on the type information of the identification information portions read by the reading means. Positional relationship recognizing means for recognizing a positional relationship between a unit and each of the card cassettes; The desired cassette storage section is selected from among the cassette storage sections, and the desired cassette storage section is selected from the selected cassette storage section. And a cassette pull-out means for drawing out the card cassette into the card removal position facing the pickup roller. At this time, when turning on the power,
This means not only the point of time when the power is actually turned on, but also the period from that point of time until the card removal operation is actually started. Therefore, at least at the time of power-on, the reading means reads the identification information portions of the card cassettes stored in all the cassette storage portions, and based on the read type information of the identification information portions, the respective cassette storage portions and the respective card cassettes are read. By recognizing the positional relationship of the card cassettes by the positional relationship recognizing means, it is possible to know which card cassette is stored in which cassette storage unit. Therefore, when a desired card is issued, each cassette storage unit A desired cassette storage section is selected from a plurality of cassette storage sections based on the positional relationship between the cassette storage section and each card cassette, and the carrier unit moves to a position corresponding to the selected cassette storage section, and the selected cassette storage section is selected. The desired card cassette is pulled out to the card take-out position by the cassette take-out means, and then drawn out to the card take-out position. The only one card by the card cassette card take-out apparatus is retrieved, the retrieved card is guided in the card issuing opening by the guide device, the purpose of the card is issued.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the cassette accommodating portion has a cassette insertion opening into which a card cassette is inserted, and a cassette rack closes the cassette insertion opening. A door is provided, and the reading means reads the identification information section of the card cassette stored in all cassette storage sections even when the door is opened and closed. Therefore, when the door is opened and closed, the identification information section of the card cassettes stored in all the cassette storage sections is read by the reading means. On the other hand, even if the card cassettes are exchanged, the positional relationship between each cassette storage section and each card cassette is recognized by the positional relation recognition means, and which card cassette is stored in which cassette storage section is located. I understand.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the card issuing device according to the first or second aspect, the identification information section is formed at a position facing the carrier unit on the peripheral surface of the card cassette. Therefore, when the carrier unit moves in the cassette storage section stacking direction, the identification information section of the card cassette is read.

[0009]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As one embodiment of the card issuing apparatus of the present invention, in a store such as a convenience store, a desired prepaid card is placed in parallel with a POS (Point Of Sales) terminal in accordance with a command from a host such as a POS terminal. Applies to devices that issue one by one.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing the card issuing device of the present embodiment. The main body 1 of the card issuing device is provided with a card cassette 3 for storing a plurality of cards 2. The apparatus main body 1 is provided with a cassette rack 4 for storing a plurality of the card cassettes 3. This cassette rack 4 is provided on a base plate 5. Above the cassette rack 4, a ceiling plate 6 is provided. The apparatus main body 1 is provided with a carrier unit 7 that moves up and down along the cassette rack 4. The carrier unit 7 is provided with a cassette drawer 8 for pulling out the card cassette 3 from the cassette rack 4 and a card drawer 9 for taking out only one card 2 from the drawn out card cassette 3. I have.

Each of the card cassettes 3 has the same size and the same shape and is formed in a rectangular box shape. At the upper end portion of the front surface of the card cassette 3, a slit-shaped card outlet 10 is formed (see FIG. 6). A roller entry opening 11 is formed in the upper surface of the card cassette 3 (see FIG. 3). On the left side surface of the card cassette 3, a concave portion 12 penetrating vertically is formed. The plurality of card cassettes 3 each store cards 2 having different face values and patterns. In each of the card cassettes 3, cards 2 of the same size and the same shape are stored. The card cassette 3 is provided with a bar code 13 which is an identification information part indicating identification information of the card 2 stored in the card cassette 3. The bar code 13 is formed on one of the peripheral surfaces of the card cassette 3 on the front surface of the card cassette 3 facing the carrier unit 7. The bar of the bar code 13 is formed horizontally.

The cassette rack 4 is formed with a plurality of cassette storage portions 14 vertically stacked (see FIG. 4). The card cassettes 3 are stored in the cassette storage sections 14. The cassette storage sections 14 have the same size so that any card cassette 3 may be stored in any of the cassette storage sections 14.
They are formed in the same shape. A partition plate 15 is formed between the cassette storage sections 14. The front surface of the partition plate 15 is painted black like the single black line in the bar code 13. A cassette outlet 16 from which the card cassette 3 is pulled out is formed on the front side of the cassette housing portion 14. A cassette insertion slot 17 into which the card cassette 3 is inserted is formed on the back side of the cassette storage section 14. A draw-out groove 18 and a vertical common groove 19 are formed on the left side surface of the cassette rack 4. The draw-out groove 18 is formed long in the front-rear direction for each of the cassette storage portions 14. The vertical common groove 19
Are formed in the up-down direction so as to cross the rear end of the drawing groove 18 and communicate with all the drawing grooves 18. The position of the vertical common groove 19 is formed so as to correspond to the position of the concave portion 12 of the card cassette 3 when the card cassette 3 is stored at a regular position in the cassette storage section 14.

On the left side of the cassette rack 4, there are first and second round shafts 2 along the cassette rack 4.
Reference numerals 0 and 21 are provided rotatably (see FIG. 2). A timing belt 22 is provided between the first and second round shafts 20 and 21. The timing belt 22 is stretched between a driving pulley 23 and a driven pulley 24. The drive pulley 23 is rotatably attached to the base plate 5. A carrier motor 25 is connected to the drive pulley 23. The carrier motor 25 is a DC servo motor, and is attached to the lower surface of the base plate 5.
The driven pulley 24 is rotatably attached to the ceiling plate 6. The carrier unit 7 is engaged with a part of the timing belt 22, and is guided by the first and second round shafts 20 and 21 to reciprocate vertically by the timing belt 22. The carrier unit 7 is formed in an L shape along the left side and the front of the cassette rack 4. The carrier unit 26 is formed by the carrier unit 7, the first and second round shafts 20, 21, the timing belt 22, the driving pulley 23, the driven pulley 24, and the carrier motor 25 (see FIG. 6).

The cassette drawer 8 is provided at a position corresponding to the left side surface of the cassette rack 4. The cassette drawer 8 is provided with a slider 27 movably provided in the front-rear direction (see FIG. 5). The slider 27 has the drawing groove 18 or the vertical common groove 19.
Is formed to project into the cassette housing portion 14. The draw-in pin 28 is formed so as to be engaged with and disengaged from the recess 12 of the card cassette 3. The retracting pin 28 is formed so as to be able to move freely in the extracting groove 18 and the vertical common groove 19. On the left side of the slider 27, a rack 29
Are formed. A gear 30 that meshes with the rack 29 is provided at a position close to the slider 27. The gear 30 is slidably mounted on the first round shaft 20 in a vertical direction (see FIG. 6). The first round shaft 20 has a keyway 31 formed along the longitudinal direction. The gear 30 is provided with a key 32 which is always engaged with the key groove 31. The first round shaft 20 is connected to the cassette transport pulse motor 3 via a transmission gear 33 and a motor gear 34.
5 are connected. The cassette transport pulse motor 35 is attached to the lower surface of the base plate 5.

The card take-out section 9 is provided at a position corresponding to the front surface of the cassette rack 4. The card take-out section 9 is provided with a pickup roller 36 so as to face the cassette rack 4 (see FIG. 1). The card removal section 9 is formed with a transport path 37 through which the card 2 is transported. This transport path 37
, First and second pairs of transport rollers 38 and 39 are sequentially arranged along the transport direction of the card 2.

The transport path 37 has a pair of guide plates 4
0. These guide plates 40 are formed so as to change the transport direction of the card 2 from the horizontal direction to the vertical direction.

The pickup roller 36 includes an arm 4
1 is rotatably supported at one end. The arm 41 is rotatably supported around a shaft 42 attached to the other end of the arm 41 as a center of rotation (see FIG. 6). The arm 41 is provided with a solenoid 43 for rotating the arm 41 clockwise. A spring 44 for rotating the arm 41 counterclockwise is attached to the arm 41. The shaft 42 is rotatably supported by the carrier unit 7. The upper transport roller of the first transport roller pair 38 is attached to the right end of the shaft 42. A first bevel gear 45 is attached to the left end of the shaft 42. The shaft 42 is connected to the pickup roller 36 via a first gear train 46.

The second transport roller pair 39 is disposed above the first transport roller pair 38. The second transport roller pair 39 is connected to the first bevel gear 45 via a second gear train 47.

At a position close to the first bevel gear 45, a second bevel gear 48 meshing with the first bevel gear 45 is provided. This second bevel gear 4
Reference numeral 8 is attached to the second round shaft 21 so as to be slidable in the vertical direction. The second round shaft 21
Has a key groove 49 formed along the longitudinal direction.
The second bevel gear 48 has a key 50 which is always engaged with the key groove 49. A pulse motor 53 for conveying a card is connected to the second round shaft 21 via a transmission gear 51 and a motor gear 52. The card transport pulse motor 53 is attached to the lower surface of the base plate 5. The second round shaft 21, the pickup roller 36, the first transport roller pair 38, the arm 41, the shaft 42, the solenoid 43, and the spring 4 described above.
4, a first and second bevel gears 45 and 48, a first gear train 46, a transmission gear 51, a motor gear 52, and a card transport pulse motor 53 constitute a card ejection device 54. A guide device 55 is formed by the carrier device 26, the first and second transport roller pairs 38 and 39, and the pair of guide plates 40 (see FIG. 2).

A bar code scanner 56 is mounted below the carrier unit 7 so as to face the cassette outlet 16 (see FIG. 1).

The apparatus main body 1 is provided with an opening / closing door 57 for closing the cassette insertion slot 17 (see FIG. 2). The opening / closing door 57 is attached to the rear side of the cassette rack 4 so as to be freely opened and closed.

Further, the apparatus main body 1 is provided with a shutter mechanism 58 (see FIG. 4). The shutter mechanism 58 is provided with a shutter member 59. This shutter member 59 is arranged on the front surface of the cassette rack 4. Above the shutter member 59, a shutter opening solenoid 60 is provided (see FIG. 2). A spring 61 for sliding the shutter member 59 downward is attached to the right side of the shutter member 59 (see FIG. 4). The shutter member 59 has a plurality of openings 62 corresponding to the cassette outlet 16. A shutter piece 63 is formed between these openings 62. The shutter member 59 is formed so as to move to a prohibited position where the shutter piece 63 is located on the front surface of the cassette outlet 16 and an open position where the opening 62 is located on the front surface of the cassette outlet 16. ing. The shutter member 59 is formed so as to be located at the prohibition position in normal times.

In the apparatus main body 1, a card issuing port 64 is formed at the uppermost position corresponding to the second transport roller pair 39.

Next, the operation will be described. First, a recognition operation for recognizing the positional relationship between each cassette storage section 14 and each card cassette 3 will be described. When the power of the apparatus is turned on, the carrier motor 25 is driven, the timing belt 22 rotates, and the carrier unit 7 reciprocates between the lowermost position and the uppermost position. Barcode 1 of card cassette 3
3 is read. At this time, the barcode scanner 56
The front surface of the partition plate 15 is read as a single bar by the bar, and the read single bar is used to read the cassette storage unit 1.
Since the position between the four cassettes 4 is recognized, the barcode 13 of the card cassette 3 is read for each cassette storage unit 14.
Card cassettes 3 stored in all card cassettes 3
The operation of reading the barcode 13 is executed as a function of the reading means.

Based on the type information of the bar code 13 read for each cassette storage section 14 by the bar code scanner 56, it is recognized which card cassette 3 for which card 2 is stored in the cassette storage section 14 at which position. Is done. The operation of recognizing the positional relationship between each cassette storage section 14 and each card cassette 3 is executed as a function of the positional relationship recognizing means.

Also, when the door 57 is opened and closed, the barcode 13 is read by the barcode scanner 56 to recognize which card cassette 3 for which card 2 is stored in the cassette storage section 14 at which position. Is done.

Next, the issuing operation for issuing the card 2 will be described with reference to a flowchart. When the host issues an instruction to issue a certain card 2, the carrier motor 25 is driven and the timing belt 22 rotates. At this time,
Since the positional relationship between each cassette storage section 14 and each card cassette is recognized in advance, the position of the desired card cassette 3 in which the target card 2 is stored is immediately known, and the position of the desired card cassette 3 corresponds to the target card cassette 3. The carrier unit 7 starts moving toward the position (Step St. 1).
Then, the shutter opening solenoid 60 is energized, and the shutter member 59 moves to the opening position (Step St. 2). At this time, the solenoid 43 is energized, and the pickup roller 36 moves upward so as not to hinder the movement of the card cassette 3 (Step S).
t. 3). Then, the carrier unit 7 reaches a position corresponding to the target card cassette 3, the retracting pin 28 of the slider 27 engages with the concave portion 12 of the target card cassette 3, and the retracting pin 28 reaches a position corresponding to the extraction groove 18. (Step St. 4), the movement of the carrier unit 7 stops.

Thereafter, the cassette conveying pulse motor 35
Is driven, the first round shaft 20 and the gear 30 rotate, and the slider 27 slides toward the front side to retract the retraction pin 2.
8 moves in the drawing groove 18, and the target card cassette 3 starts to move forward (Step St. 5). When the target card cassette 3 is pulled out to the card removal position where the target card cassette 3 faces the pickup roller 36 and the roller entrance opening 11 is located below the pickup roller 36 (Step St. 6), the cassette is transported. The pulse motor 35 stops, and the movement of the target card cassette 3 stops. As described in St. 1 to St. 6, a desired cassette storage unit 14 is selected from the plurality of cassette storage units 14 based on the positional relationship between each cassette storage unit 14 and each card cassette 3, and a desired card cassette is selected from the selected cassette storage units 14. The operation of pulling out the card cassette 3 to a card take-out position where the card cassette 3 faces the pickup roller 36 is executed as a function of the cassette take-out means.

When the target card cassette 3 is stopped at the card take-out position, the solenoid 43 is de-energized, and the pickup roller 36 moves downward to enter the roller entry opening 11, and the highest position in the target card cassette 3 (Step St. 7). At this time,
The card transport pulse motor 53 is driven, and the pickup roller 36 rotates via the second round shaft 21, the first and second bevel gears 45 and 48, and the first gear train 46. Then, the uppermost card 2 in the target card cassette 3 starts being conveyed by receiving repeated output by the pickup roller 36. Thereafter, when the card 2 conveyed by the pickup roller 36 reaches the space between the first pair of conveying rollers 38 (Step St. 9), the solenoid 43 is energized so that the movement of the card cassette 3 is not hindered. Then, the pickup roller 36 moves upward (Step St. 10).

Then, the cassette conveying pulse motor 35
Is rotated in the reverse direction, the first round shaft 20 and the gear 30 rotate, the slider 27 slides rearward, the retracting pin 28 moves in the extracting groove 18, and the card cassette 3 starts moving backward ( Step St.11). Then, when the card cassette 3 returns to the original position in the cassette storage section 14 (Step St. 12), the cassette transport pulse motor 35 stops, and the movement of the card cassette 3 stops.

When the card cassette 3 stops at the original position in the cassette accommodating portion 14, the carrier motor 25 is driven, and the carrier unit 7 starts to move upward from the position of the target card cassette 3 toward the uppermost position. (Step St. 13). At this time, the solenoid 43 is de-energized, the pickup roller 36 moves downward (step St. 14), the shutter opening solenoid 60 is de-energized, and the shutter member 59 moves to the prohibited position (step St. 15). Further, the first and second transport roller pairs 38 and 39 rotate, and the card 2 taken out of the card cassette 3 is transported along the transport path 37 by the first and second transport roller pairs 38 and 39. Is done. When the leading end of the card 2 protrudes from the upper ends of the pair of guide plates 40 in a state where the card 2 is sandwiched by the second pair of conveying rollers 39, the second conveying roller 39 stops and the conveyance of the card 2 stops. (Step St. 1
6). Then, the carrier unit 7 reaches the uppermost position, and the leading end of the card 2 is exposed from the card issuing port 64.

Thereafter, when the user pulls out the card 2 from the card issuing slot 64, the carrier motor 25 is driven, the carrier unit 7 is moved to the lowest position (Step St.18), and the apparatus enters a standby state.

As described above, when the power is turned on and when the door 57 is opened and closed, the barcodes 13 of the card cassettes 3 stored in all the cassette storage units 14 are read by the barcode scanner 56 and read. By recognizing the positional relationship between each cassette storage section 14 and each card cassette 3 based on the type information of the barcode 13, which position of the cassette storage section 14 contains the card cassette 3 for which card 2 is stored. Therefore, even if the card cassette 3 for which card 2 is stored in which cassette storage section 14, the card cassette 3 in which the target card 2 is stored is selected. Therefore, the mounting position of the card cassette can be freely selected.
The work of storing the card cassette 3 becomes easy. Further, by performing a recognition operation for recognizing the positional relationship between each cassette storage section 14 and each card cassette 3 when the opening and closing door 57 is opened and closed, the cassette storage section 14 is opened and closed when the opening and closing door 57 is opened and closed. Even if the card cassettes 3 are exchanged, the positional relationship between each of the cassette storage sections 14 and the card cassettes 3 is recognized, and it is possible to know which card cassette 3 for which card 2 is stored in the cassette storage section 14 at which position. Therefore, there is no problem even if the user freely changes the storage position of the card cassette 3. Further, since the bar code 13 is formed on the front surface of the card cassette 3 and the bar of the bar code 13 is formed horizontally, all the cards are reciprocated between the lowermost position and the uppermost position by the carrier unit 7. The barcode 13 of the cassette 3 is read by the barcode scanner 56. Therefore, it is not necessary to separately provide a scanning system for reading the barcode 13.

The identification information portion of each card cassette 3 is not limited to the bar code 13 but may be uneven information. In short, the identification information portion can be attached to each card cassette 3 and What is necessary is just to hold information readable. Further, the position where the barcode 13 or the like is attached is not limited to the front surface of the card cassette 3 but may be on the peripheral surface that the carrier unit 7 can cross, for example, the left side surface of the card cassette 3. Then, the mounting position of the barcode scanner 56 may be changed.

The term “power-on” as described above means not only the point in time when the power is actually turned on, but also the period from that point in time until the card 2 is actually taken out.

[0036]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of card cassettes each accommodating a plurality of cards in a removable manner and a plurality of cassette storage sections are provided in a stacked manner, and each of these cassette storage sections is provided. And a carrier device having a carrier unit that is movable across the entire range of the stacking direction of the cassette storage unit, and only one card in the card cassette mounted on the carrier unit. One card ejection device including a pickup roller to be ejected and shared by all card cassettes, a guide device for guiding the card ejected by the card ejection device to a card issuing port, and each of them formed for each card cassette An identification information section indicating the type information of the card stored in the card cassette; Reading means for reading the identification information section of the card cassettes stored in all the cassette storage sections at the time of insertion; each cassette storage section and each card cassette based on the type information of the identification information section read by the reading means; And a desired cassette storage section from a plurality of cassette storage sections based on the positional relation between each cassette storage section and each card cassette recognized by the positional relation recognition section. And a cassette pull-out means for pulling out a desired card cassette from the selected cassette storage portion to a card removal position facing the pickup roller, so that at least when the power is turned on, the reading device is stored in all the cassette storage portions. The identification information section of the card cassette is read, and each cassette is read based on the read type information of the identification information section. By recognizing the positional relationship between the card storage unit and each card cassette by the positional relationship recognizing means, it is possible to know which card cassette is stored in which cassette storage unit at which position, so that a desired card is issued. In such a case, a desired cassette storage section can be selected from a plurality of cassette storage sections based on the positional relationship between each cassette storage section and each card cassette, thereby corresponding to the selected cassette storage section. Move the carrier unit to the position, pull out the desired card cassette from the selected cassette storage section to the card removal position by the cassette removal means, and remove only one card from the card cassette pulled out to the card removal position by the card removal device. The guide card guides the ejected card to the card issuing slot, You can issue a target card. Therefore, even if a card cassette for any card is stored in any cassette storage unit, the card cassette storing the target card is selected. Therefore, the mounting position of the card cassette can be freely selected, thereby facilitating the storing operation of the card cassette.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, even when the opening / closing door is opened / closed, the reading means reads the identification information section of the card cassettes stored in all the cassette storage sections.
Even if the card cassette is exchanged with respect to the cassette storage section when the opening / closing door is opened and closed while the power is ON, the positional relation between each cassette storage section and each card cassette is recognized by the positional relation recognition means. It can be understood which card cassette for which card is stored in the cassette storage section. Therefore, there is no problem even if the user freely changes the storage position of the card cassette.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the identification information section is formed at a position facing the carrier unit on the peripheral surface of the card cassette, the carrier unit moves along the cassette storage section stacking direction. At this time, the identification information section of the card cassette can be read. Therefore, it is not necessary to separately provide a scanning system for reading a barcode.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing a carrier unit and a cassette rack of a card issuing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the card issuing device.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a card cassette.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a cassette rack.

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view showing a carrier unit and a cassette rack.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a carrier unit and a cassette rack.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the card issuing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Card 3 Card cassette 4 Cassette rack 7 Carrier unit 13 Identification information section 14 Cassette storage section 17 Cassette insertion slot 26 Carrier device 36 Pickup roller 54 Card removal device 55 Guide device 57 Opening / closing door

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Ryuta Nagane 1-484-1, Bunkyo-cho, Mishima-shi, Shizuoka

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of card cassettes, each of which accommodates a plurality of cards in a removable manner, and a plurality of cassette storage sections are provided in a stack, and the card cassettes are stored in each of these cassette storage sections so as to be able to be pulled out. A cassette rack, a carrier device having a carrier unit that is movable across the entire range of the cassette storage unit stacking direction, and a pickup roller that is mounted on the carrier unit and takes out only one card in the card cassette, One card ejection device shared by all the card cassettes; a guide device for guiding the cards taken out by the card ejection device to a card issuing port; and An identification information section indicating type information of the stored card; Reading means for reading the identification information portions of the card cassettes stored in all the cassette storage portions at the time of turning on the power; and reading each of the card information based on the type information of the identification information portions read by the reading means. A positional relationship recognizing means for recognizing a positional relationship between the cassette accommodating portion and each of the card cassettes; and Cassette extracting means for selecting the desired cassette storage section from among the cassette storage sections and extracting the desired card cassette from the selected cassette storage section to a card removal position facing the pickup roller. Card issuing device. 2. The cassette storage section has a cassette insertion slot into which a card cassette is inserted, and the cassette rack includes an openable and closable door for closing the cassette insertion slot.
2. The card issuing device according to claim 1, wherein the reading means reads the identification information section of the card cassettes stored in all the cassette storage sections even when the door is opened and closed. 3. The card issuing device according to claim 1, wherein the identification information section is formed at a position facing the carrier unit on a peripheral surface of the card cassette.