JPH11149524A - Storage medium reading device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device which is provided with a high performance, tray- shaped recording medium carrier structure and also which is shortened in a thickness direction and a insertion direction so as to be miniaturized by constituting a storage medium reading device in such a way that linking is executed with external pressurizing force so as to grasp a recording medium and the grasped storage medium is moved to the inside of the device so as to be taken-in. SOLUTION: When an IC card 14 is held in hand for insertion to a card inserting port 13, the insertion force of the card is transmitted to a tray 18 at the point of time when the tip of the IC card 14 enters the inside of a card containing part 20 of the tray 18 so as to be inserted halfway. Then, it is pushed forward integrally with the tray 18, the tip of the tray 18 is detected by a first detecting switch SW1, a driving motor M is driven forward based on it so as to rotate a pinion 22 forward and the tray 18 which is integrated with a rack 21 engaged with the pinion is taken-in further. The pressurizing piece of a card grasping mechanism 45 is inclined downward and operated at the time of initially taking-in the tray 18 and the tip part of the inserted IC card 14 is grasped so as to be surely taken-in to an inner part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording medium reading apparatus for reading data from a recording medium such as an IC card, and more particularly to a recording medium reading apparatus which has improved operability to enter and exit a recording medium while reducing the size. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a recording medium reading apparatus for reading data from a recording medium such as an IC card or a magnetic card allows a card 52 to be inserted and removed in a horizontal state on the front surface of an apparatus main body 51 as shown in FIG. A card insertion slot 53 is provided, and a card nipping conveyance path 55 in which a plurality of pairs of vertically sandwiching nipping rollers 54 are arranged in the conveyance direction inwardly communicating with the card insertion slot 53 is provided. The card 52 guided to the card 52 is taken inward and subjected to data processing. After the data processing, the card 52 is sent back and returned from the card insertion slot 53.

In the case of such a transport structure in which a card is transported by using a transport rotating body such as a transport roller or a transport belt, when the transport roller or the transport belt becomes dirty or deteriorates, defective transport of the card is induced. There was something.
In addition, the thickness in the up-down direction is increased due to the transport rotators disposed in a pair in the upper and lower directions, which limits the reduction in thickness.

On the other hand, there is known a tray-type card transport mechanism with improved card transport performance. For example, FIG.
As shown in FIG.
The user inserts the card 64 into the upper surface storage section 63 of 2, and pushes the tray 62 inward, so that the card integrated with the tray is taken inward in conjunction with this, so that an external tray-type card insertion / removal is performed. Having a mechanism 65 and having the tray 62
Is protruding outside and returned.

[0005] However, in this case, a large space is required in the front of the apparatus because a protruding space for the tray to protrude outward is required.
Further, the user has to take a two-stage card insertion operation of putting the card into the upper surface storage portion of the tray and then pushing the tray into the inside of the apparatus, which is troublesome.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, a card take-in roller 73 and a tray 75 which moves in conjunction with the insertion / removal operation of the card 74 are provided inside a card insertion slot 72 opened in the front of the apparatus main body 71. And the card 7 inserted here
An internal tray-shaped card insertion / removal mechanism 76 for taking in the sheet 4 inward via the tray 75 is provided. After the card data processing, the tray 75 is sent backward and returned from the card insertion slot 72 and returned.

In this case, a card take-in roller for placing an inserted card on an internal tray is required, so that the size of the apparatus is increased in the thickness direction and the conveyance direction, and the cost is increased due to the large number of parts. Had a problem.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention has a tray-shaped recording medium conveying structure having improved recording medium conveying performance, and furthermore, the thickness direction and the inserting direction are shortened to reduce the size of the entire apparatus. It is an object of the present invention to provide an intended recording medium reader.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
What is claimed is: 1. A recording medium reading device for reading recording information by taking a recording medium therein, comprising: gripping means for gripping a recording medium in conjunction with an external pressing force pressing the outside of the recording medium; Moving means for moving the recording medium into the apparatus.

[0010] The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that it comprises a gripping means for gripping an end of the recording medium.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a moving means constituted by engaging a rack and a pinion.

[0012]

According to the present invention, when the recording medium is taken in and the user presses the recording medium from outside by holding the recording medium in his hand, the gripping means is interlocked with the external pressing force and the recording medium is moved. The moving means moves the gripped recording medium into the apparatus and takes it in.

For this reason, when the recording medium is inserted, the recording medium can be automatically taken in with the operation, and the operation of inserting and removing the recording medium is not troublesome, and the recording medium can be inserted and removed. The handling can be performed with good operability, and the taking-in member such as the taking-in roller can be omitted, so that the number of parts can be reduced and the apparatus can be downsized.

Further, since the recording medium is gripped at the end and taken into the inside, the recording medium can be reliably grasped and a stable taking operation can be performed. Since the configuration is such that the end portion of the recording medium that does not hinder the operation is gripped and taken into the inside, it is possible to easily perform the recording process, and it is not necessary to hold the entire recording medium. Can be planned. Further, when the moving means is configured by meshing the rack and the pinion, the thickness direction can be shortened and the apparatus can be thinned.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 1 and 2 show an IC card reader 11 which is a card reader body 12.
A card transport path 15 for taking in and transporting the IC card 14 in a horizontal direction is built in an inner side communicating with the card insertion slot 13 of the card, and a magnetic head 16 for magnetic data processing and an IC data processing are provided on the card transport path 15. And an IC contact 17 for use.

The card transport path 15 is connected to the card reader main body 1.
2 includes a tray 18 that moves forward and backward along the transport direction, a tray driving mechanism 19 that drives the tray 18, and a first detection switch SW1 and a second detection switch SW2 that detect the tip of the tray 18. Constitute.

The above-mentioned tray 18 has a card storage portion 20 having an opening at an outer end surface facing the card insertion slot 13 and allowing the IC card 14 to be inserted as it is, and a storage length of the card storage portion 20. The length of the front half of the IC card 14 in the longitudinal direction in which the IC card 14 is inserted and inserted is held so as to have a half length of the card, and the reduction in the length of the tray reduces the size of the entire apparatus.

A rack 21 is formed on one side of the upper surface of the tray 18 in the reciprocating direction. A pinion 22 of a tray driving mechanism 19 described later is engaged with the rack 21 to move the tray 18 forward and backward.

The above-described tray drive mechanism 19 transmits power to the pinion 22 via a drive belt 24 stretched between an output shaft of a reduction gear 23 connected to a drive motor M and a rotation shaft of the pinion 22. Based on this, power is transmitted to the rack 21 meshing with the pinion 22, and the tray 18 moves forward and backward by receiving the forward / reverse driving force from the drive motor M.

On the upper surface of the tip of the tray 18,
As shown in FIG. 3, a card gripping mechanism 25 that presses and holds the tip of the IC card 14 is provided. The card gripping mechanism 25 is mounted on a top surface of the tip of the tray 18 on a horizontal shaft 26 extending in the insertion width direction, and a small pressing piece 27 that allows the vertical axis to be tilted on a horizontal shaft 26.
Is mounted by urging upward with a spring 28, and a rubber pad 29 for pressing the card is mounted on the lower surface side of the pressing piece 27.
The position of the tray 18 is located on the front side of the tray passage 30 and is at a tray standby position where the IC card 14 can be received. At this tray standby position, the card gripping mechanism 25 causes the pressing piece 27 to press the spring 28 upward. Has been evacuated. When the IC card 14 is inserted from the tray standby position, the tip of the IC card 14 pushes the tray 18 to move the tray forward. The pressing piece 27 is formed by a card gripping passage 31 having a lowered height direction which continues for a long time.
Of the IC card 14 into which the rubber pad 29 integrated with the pressing piece 27 is inserted, and the upper surface of the IC card 14 is pressed and gripped during the downward movement.

As a result, the inserted IC card 14 can be reliably taken into the IC card 14 while holding the leading end thereof. Further, since it is not necessary to partially grip the IC card 14 by the card gripping mechanism 25 and grip the entire IC card, the size of the card gripping mechanism 25 can be reduced.

The first end of the card holding passage 31 is
A detection switch SW1 is provided, and a second detection switch SW2 is provided on the end side to accurately detect the tip position of the tray 18 which moves forward and backward, and based on the detection of the tip position of the tray 18. The drive motor M is driven or stopped in the forward / reverse rotation according to the card take-in operation or the card return operation.

In processing data of the IC card 14, the magnetic head 1 disposed on the front side of the tray passage 30 is used.
6 of the IC card 14 into which the magnetic stripe 6 is inserted.
And magnetic data processing in response to contact. Further, the IC contacts 17 disposed at the back of the tray passage 30 perform IC data processing in contact with the contacts 14b on the top surface on the tip side of the IC card 14.

IC card reader 1 configured as described above
The first IC card processing operation will be described below. Now, when the IC card user holds the IC card 14 in his hand and inserts it into the card insertion slot 13 as shown in FIGS.
When the tip of the IC card 14 enters the card storage portion 20 of the tray 18 inward and is inserted about halfway, the insertion force of the card is transmitted to the tray 18 and is pushed forward integrally with the tray 18, and at this time, the tray 18 is the first detection switch S
W1 is detected, and based on this, the drive motor M is driven to rotate forward to rotate the pinion 22 forward, and the tray 18 integral with the rack 21 is taken into the back.

At the time of initial loading of the tray 18, the pressing piece 27 of the card gripping mechanism 25 is tilted downward to grip the leading end of the inserted IC card 14 and securely capture it inside. When the user inserts the IC card 14, the tray driving mechanism 19 is driven in accordance with the operation to mechanically take the IC card 14 from the middle, and
Stop at the data processing position.

The magnetic stripe 14a of the IC card 14 comes into contact with the magnetic head 16 in accordance with the forward movement, and magnetic data processing is performed. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 4, it is determined that the tray 18 has reached the take-in completion position.
When the detection switch SW2 detects, the IC contact 17 is brought into contact with the contact 14b of the IC card to perform IC data processing.

After the IC data processing, the drive motor M is driven to rotate in the reverse direction to return the tray 18 to the original tray standby position and return, and it is determined that the tray 18 has returned to the original standby position.
The detection switch SW1 detects the state and stops the output of the drive motor M. At the standby position of the tray, the pressing piece 27 of the card gripping mechanism 25 again receives the upward biasing force of the spring 28 and moves upward to the upwardly retracting position, whereby the card gripping action is released.
Therefore, the removal of the IC card is allowed at the same time as the return of the IC card, and the removal of the IC card 14 causes the 1
The data processing of the IC cards ends.

As described above, when the user inserts the IC card into the inside, the user holds the IC card and inserts the IC card from the outside, and the card gripping mechanism interlocks with the external pressing force at this time. When the IC card is inserted and operated, the IC card can be automatically taken into the inside of the IC card, so that the IC card can be automatically taken in. The card insertion / removal operation does not take much time, and the IC card can be handled with a high operability. Further, since the take-in roller can be omitted, the number of components can be reduced, and the space in the thickness direction can be reduced, so that the size of the apparatus can be reduced.

Further, since the configuration is such that the leading end portion of the IC card is gripped and taken in, the IC card can be reliably grasped and a stable taking operation can be performed, thereby preventing unexpected removal or poor taking. Further, since the leading end of the IC card which does not interfere with the data processing portion can be gripped and taken in, the data processing can be easily performed.
Since it is not necessary to hold the entire card, the size of the card holding mechanism can be reduced. In addition, since the rack and the pinion are meshed with each other and the thickness of the IC card reader is reduced in the thickness direction, the thickness of the IC card reader can be reduced.

In the correspondence between the present invention and the configuration of the above-described embodiment, the recording medium reading apparatus of the present invention corresponds to the IC card reader 11 of the embodiment. The holding means corresponds to the card holding mechanism 25 and the card holding path 31, and the moving means corresponds to the tray 18 and the tray driving mechanism 19. However, the present invention is based on the technical idea described in the claims. The present invention is not limited to the configuration of the embodiment described above.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the internal structure of an IC card reader according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional side view showing the internal structure of the IC card reader of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view showing a card holding mechanism of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional side view showing an IC card insertion completed state of the IC card reader of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a recording medium reading device using a conventional transport rotating body.

FIG. 6 is a schematic side view showing a conventional card reader provided with an external tray-type card insertion / removal mechanism.

FIG. 7 is an internal configuration diagram showing a conventional card reader provided with an internal tray-type card insertion / removal mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... IC card reader 14 ... IC card 18 ... Tray 19 ... Tray drive mechanism SW1 ... First detection switch SW2 ... Second detection switch 21 ... Rack 22 ... Pinion 25 ... Card holding mechanism 31 ... Card holding passage

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A recording medium reading apparatus for reading recording information by taking a recording medium therein, comprising: gripping means for gripping a recording medium in conjunction with an external pressing force for pressing the outside of the recording medium; A moving means for moving the recording medium gripped by the gripping means into the apparatus; 2. The recording medium reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the gripping means grips an end of the recording medium. 3. The recording medium reader according to claim 1, wherein the moving means is configured by meshing a rack and a pinion.