JPH11167609A - Card issuing mechanism in card vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent an abnormal card from being issued by stopping the issuing of the card and collecting the card when an abnormal signal showing that abnormality exists in the card is issued by a detection means. SOLUTION: An abnormal card detection means 30 inspects a card taken out from a storage means 1 by a transportation means 2 and detects the presence or absence of abnormality such as the damage of a recording medium, an IC module of a non-contact IC card and an antenna. An abnormal card collection means is constituted of an abnormal card discharge instruction means 41, the card transportation means 2 and an abnormal card storage means 42. When an abnormal signal is issued by the abnormal card detection means 30, the abnormal card is collected. As soon as the abnormal signal is issued, the abnormal card discharge instruction means 41 instructs the transportation means 2 to discharge the abnormal card to the abnormal card storage means 42 and instructs a card take-out instruction means 5 to issue a signal for taking out a new card. The abnormal card storage means 42 stores the discharged abnormal card.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a card issuing mechanism in a card vending machine or a vending system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a card issuing mechanism of a card vending machine as shown in FIG. When an amount is input from the outside, the drive motor 84 operates to rotate the card sending roller 81, and one card is stored in the card hopper 8
0, and is fed by a roller 81 to a transport conveyor 82 composed of transport rollers. Conveyor 82
First, the card is transported to the position of the reader / writer 83. Then, the reader / writer 83 writes data such as the amount of money to be used on the card, and then conveys and sends the card to a card outlet (not shown) of the vending machine.

However, when the card issuance mechanism of the conventional card vending machine as described above issues a card, the issued card has an abnormality (for example, damage to a magnetic recording medium, damage to an IC module of a non-contact card, etc.). ) Is not considered at all, and so-called abnormal cards with such abnormalities are sometimes issued.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a card issuing mechanism in a card vending machine in which an abnormal card is not issued.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a card issuing mechanism in a card vending apparatus according to the present invention uses a card transport means to supply a card from a card storage means to the outside by an external input. In a card vending machine configured to convey and charge the card with a reader / writer, when issuing a card, abnormal card detecting means for detecting the presence / absence of a card abnormality, and detecting abnormalities in the card by the detecting means. When an abnormal signal indicating the presence of the card is issued, an abnormal card collecting means for stopping issuance of the card and collecting the card is provided.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A card issuing mechanism in a card vending machine according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a card issuing mechanism according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front structural view of the card issuing mechanism shown in FIG. In FIG. 1, the card issuing mechanism in the card vending apparatus of the present invention includes a card storage unit 1, a card removal instruction unit 5, a card transport unit 2, an abnormal card detection unit 30, a card writing unit 32, an abnormal card It comprises a collection means and a card issuing instruction means 6.

The card storage means 1 collects and stores cards, for example, a card hopper 10 shown in FIG. The card transporting means 2 takes out the cards one by one from the storage means 10 and sends out the cards to a card delivery port (not shown) of the vending machine or sends the abnormal cards to the abnormal card storage means 42.
For example, as shown in FIG. 2, a take-out roller 24 driven by a motor (not shown), a discharge gate 13, a delivery mechanism 20, and a transport path adjustment mechanism 2 as shown in FIG.
3 is a transport mechanism. The writing means 32 writes data such as the amount of money used and the personal identification number on the card, for example, using the reader / writer 3 shown in FIG. The abnormal card detecting unit 30 inspects the card taken out of the storing unit 1 by the transporting unit 2 and detects whether there is an abnormality such as breakage of a recording medium, an IC module of a non-contact IC card, and an antenna. ,
(Reading unit 31 of) the read / writer 3 shown in FIG. 2 and a determining unit 3 that determines a signal obtained by reading the card K by the reader / writer 3 and issues an abnormal signal or a normal signal.
3 may be included.

The abnormal card collecting means is means for collecting an abnormal card when an abnormal signal (a detection signal indicating that the card has an abnormality) is issued by the (determining means 33 of) the abnormal card detecting means 30. In this embodiment, the abnormal card ejection instruction means 41, the card transport means 2, and the abnormal card storage means 42 are provided.

The abnormal card ejection instructing means 41 instructs the conveying means 2 to eject the abnormal card to the abnormal card storage means 42 as soon as the abnormal signal is issued, and, after the abnormal card is ejected, It instructs the card removal means 5 to issue a signal for removing a new card. The abnormal card storage unit 42 stores the abnormal card discharged by the card transport unit 2, for example, the abnormal card storage box 40 shown in FIG.

Further, a specific structure of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the card issuing mechanism of the present invention includes a card hopper 10 and a take-out roller 24.
, A sending mechanism 20 (comprising an induction roller 21 and a carrying conveyor 22), a carrying mechanism comprising a carrying path line adjusting mechanism 23 and a drive motor (not shown), an abnormal card storage box 40, a reader / writer 3, a card And a detection sensor 7.

The card hopper 10 has a storage box 14 provided with an elongated outlet 15 through which only one card can pass, and a storage box 14 provided by an applied elastic force.
It comprises a pressing body 11 which presses the card K stored in the storage box 14 against the bottom surface of the storage box 14. Further, a gate 12 applied to an elastic force for temporarily sealing the outlet 15 at all times is provided. Further, an adjusting mechanism 13 for adjusting the size of the outlet 15 is provided.

As for the transport mechanism, the take-out roller 24
Is mounted so as to be slightly exposed from the inner bottom surface of the storage box 16 (to move the card K by rotational friction). The delivery mechanism 20 composed of the guide roller 21 and the conveyor 22 is configured such that the card transport line of the delivery mechanism 20 coincides with the traveling route of the card taken out of the box 16 (FIG. 2A) or is inclined downward (FIG. 2A).
(B)) so that it can be adjusted. That is, in the present embodiment, the roller 21 and the conveyor 22 are attached to the attachment body 25, one end of the attachment body 25 is pivotally mounted on the shaft 26, and the attachment body 25 is vertically swung about the shaft 26. A transport route adjusting mechanism 23 is provided at the bottom of the mounting body 25. in this way,
A card traveling direction adjusting structure is formed. The conveyance path line adjusting mechanism 23 includes a solenoid 230, an arm 233 that is in axial contact with the output end of the solenoid 230, and a center end of which is fixed with a shaft 235, an arm 232 that is in one end and is in axial contact with the other end of the arm 233, The arm 231 is formed of an arm 231 that is in axial contact with the other end of the arm 232 and that has a substantially central portion fixed by a shaft 234 and that is in contact with the connecting portion 250 of the mounting body 25 at the other end. The extension or contraction of the output end of the solenoid 230 causes the arm 231 to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise, so that the mounting body 25 swings up and down about the shaft 26. That is, the card transport line in the sending mechanism 20 is adjusted as described above. Of course, the transport line adjustment mechanism 23 is not limited to the structure shown in FIG.

The abnormal card storage box 40 includes a box 43 and a guide 44 provided at an end of the box 43.
Is formed from.

The operation principle of the embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

(1) Card issue when there is no abnormal card First, as shown in FIG. 1, when there is an external input (for example, money is sent), the card removal instructing means 5 becomes the card transporting means 2 Is issued to remove the card K from the box 14. Then, in the card transport means 2, the roller 24 is rotated, and one card K is discharged from the exit 1
5 and is transported to the delivery mechanism 20 while being supported by the gate 12. At this time, as shown in FIG. 2A, the transport line in the sending mechanism 20 coincides with the travel line of the card K taken out of the box 14, so that the card K is inserted into the guide roller 21, and The card 22 is sent to the conveyor 22 by the guidance of the controller 22, and is conveyed by the conveyor 22 to a position where the data recording portion of the card K contacts the reader / writer 3. Then, the reader / writer 3 (the reading means 31 of the reader) transmits a signal obtained by reading the card K to the determining means 33. The determining means 33 uses the signal to determine whether the card is abnormal or normal, and When a detection signal (normal signal) indicating that there is no card is issued, the card issuance instructing means 6 issues a card issuance instructing signal, and the writing means 32 using the reader / writer writes the amount of money used and the personal identification number on the card K according to the signal. Or the card transport means 2 (conveyor 22) sends out the card K after the writing.

(2) Card issue when an abnormal card is present First, as described in the above (1), the card K is transported to a position where it comes into contact with the reader / writer 3, and the abnormal card detection means 30 The card K is inspected. If the card is an abnormal card, an abnormal detection signal indicating that there is an abnormality is issued, and the abnormal card ejection instruction means 41 sequentially outputs the abnormal card ejection signal and the new card removal signal to the card transport means 2.
The card is issued to the card removal instructing means 5. Then, as shown in FIG. 2B, first, the solenoid 230 of the transport route adjusting mechanism 23 is operated, and the arms 233, 232,
34, the arm 231 rotates about the shaft 234, and the end in contact with the connecting portion 250 drops, and
5 rotates with the shaft 26 downward to the position shown in FIG. 2B, so that the card transport line in the delivery mechanism 20 is separated (inclined downward) from the travel line of the card K taken out of the box 14. And the conveyor 22
Then, the roller 21 is reversed, and the abnormal card is easily fed into the box 43. As soon as the abnormal card is discharged into the box 43, the conveyor 22 and the roller 21 stop, and the transport path line adjusting mechanism 23 and the sending mechanism 20 recover to the state shown in FIG. Then, the roller 24 is rotated, and one card K is taken out from the outlet 15.
The operation described in (1) is performed.

As described above, the card issuing mechanism according to the present invention can ensure that an abnormal card is not issued with a simple structure.

In the card conveying means, as shown in FIG. 3, a claw body 94 may be provided instead of the take-out roller 24 of FIG. The claw body 94 is slightly exposed from the elongated guide hole 16 formed at the bottom of the storage box 14, and is driven by a driving mechanism (not shown) along the guide hole 16 to be able to reciprocate. . Card K storage box 14
When the claw body 94 is taken out, the claw body 94 slides to the left end of the guide hole 16, and at that time, the claw body 94 locks and sends one card at the lowermost end. Therefore, the card K is sent out from the outlet 15 by the claw body 94 and is sent into the guide roller 21 of the sending means 20.

When an abnormal card is detected, the drive motor is temporarily stopped before reverse rotation, and the sending mechanism 20 is stopped. The card K is sent out while the conveyor 22 of the sending mechanism 20 is momentarily rotated by inertia. There is a risk of being done.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, it is preferable to provide an abnormal card erroneous transmission prevention mechanism 90. The mechanism 90 uses a stopper 96 that is movable up and down in a direction substantially perpendicular to the card transport path outside the delivery end of the delivery mechanism 20 (left side in the drawing). In the present embodiment, the stopper 96 penetrates a guide member 95 fixedly provided on the upper left side of the mounting body 25, and has an upper end 93 of an arm 94 provided with a shaft 92 above the mounting body 25. Connected with. The end 91 of the arm 94 is provided with a solenoid 9 fixed on the upper part of the mounting body 25.
7 is connected to the output terminal. At all times, the lower part of the stopper 96 is in contact with the card transport line. If there is an abnormal card,
The sending mechanism 20 rotates by inertia, and is stopped by the stopper 96 even if the card is going to go outside. When issuing a card without an abnormal card, the solenoid 97 operates,
The arm 94 is rotated about the shaft 92, and the stopper 96 is moved in conjunction with the stopper 96 to move upward, so that the lower portion of the arm 94 is not separated from the card conveyance path, and the card is not blocked.

[0021]

The card issuing mechanism in the card vending machine according to the present invention transports the card from the card storage means to the outside by an external input, and conveys the card using the card transport means, and also uses the reader / writer to transfer the card. In a card vending machine configured to charge, when issuing a card, an abnormal card detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of an abnormality in the card, and an abnormal signal indicating that the card has an abnormality is issued by the detecting means. Since there is provided an abnormal card collection unit that stops issuing the card and collects the card, the abnormal card can be collected, and it can be ensured that the abnormal card is not issued. Also,
The present invention has the effect of reducing mischievous actions and malfunctions by allowing the computer to freely control the card insertion and ejection actions and not accepting the next card until one operation is completed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a card issuing mechanism in a card vending machine of the present invention.

2A and 2B are structural views of the card issuing mechanism shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 2A is a front view showing a state of a card transporting unit when there is no abnormal card; FIG. FIG. 6 is a front view showing the state of the card transport means at the time.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing another embodiment of the card conveying means of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partial structural view of the card conveying means of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a card issuing mechanism in a conventional card vending machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Card storage means 2 Card transport means 3 Reader / writer 5 Card removal instructing means 6 Card issuance instructing means 7 Card detecting means 10 Card hopper 20 Card sending mechanism 23 Transport path line adjusting mechanism 24 Extraction roller 31 Abnormal card detecting means 32 Writing means 41 Abnormal card ejection instruction means 42 Abnormal card storage means 94 Claw body 96 Stopper

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A card vending machine configured to convey a card from a card storage means to the outside by external input and to charge the card by a reader / writer while transferring the card using a card conveying means. When issuing a card, an abnormal card detecting means for detecting the presence / absence of an abnormality in the card, and when the detecting means issues an abnormal signal indicating that the card is abnormal, the issuing of the relevant card is stopped and the relevant card is recovered. A card issuance mechanism in a card vending apparatus, comprising: card collection means. 2. The abnormal card detecting means comprises a reader / writer and a judging means for judging a signal obtained by reading the card by the reader / writer and issuing an abnormal signal or a normal signal. The card issuing mechanism in the card vending machine according to claim 1. 3. The abnormal card collecting means instructs the card transport means to discharge the abnormal card to the abnormal card storage means as soon as the abnormal signal is issued, and the abnormal card is discharged. 2. An abnormal card ejection instruction means for instructing to issue a signal for removing a new card, and an abnormal card storage means for storing the ejected card. 3. A card issuing mechanism in the card vending apparatus according to 2.