JPH11242726A - Card reader and read error processing method and storage medium for recording control program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a card reader for analyzing the cause of a read failure. SOLUTION: When card information is inputted, whether or not data are correctly inputted is judged (23). In the case of normal data (23: YES), data transfer is operated (24). When the data transfer is normally ended (26: YES), the normal end is transmitted to an operator by a lamp or a sound (27). In the case of abnormal data (23: NO), special data indicating read failure are transmitted to a host device (25). Afterwards, the abnormal end is transmitted to the operator by the lamp or the sound (28). When the data transmission fails (26: NO), the abnormal end is only transmitted to the operator by the lamp or the sound since the read of a magnetic card succeeds.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a card reader, a read error processing method therefor, and a recording medium storing a control program therefor, and more particularly to a magnetic card reader for reading data from a magnetic card, a read error processing method therefor, and control thereof. The present invention relates to a recording medium on which a program is recorded.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A magnetic card cannot store a data capacity as large as an IC (semiconductor integrated circuit) card, but is inexpensive and has relatively high reliability, so that it is widely used for credit cards and prepaid cards. . In a store (retail store), payment by a magnetic card is increasingly performed.

[0003] A conventional card reader will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 shows an external view of the card. This plastic magnetic card 1 includes a magnetic medium (fine iron oxide powder).
There is a magnetic stripe 2 on which necessary data is recorded as a magnetization pattern. A dedicated card reader is used to read the recorded data. In the case of the manual magnetic card reader 3 shown in FIG.
The magnetic card 1 is moved by an operator in the direction of the arrow in the figure, and the data written on the magnetic stripe 2 is read by the magnetic heads 5 and 6.

Similarly, in the case of the automatic magnetic card reader 3 shown in FIG. 5, the magnetic card 1 is automatically moved (for example, sandwiched between two rotating rollers) in the direction of the arrow in the figure. The data is read by the magnetic head.

The data of the magnetic card 1 read by the magnetic card reader 3 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is sent to a data processing board 9 as shown in FIG. 1, where the read data is predetermined. It is confirmed whether the data conforms to the prescribed format, and if there is no problem, the read data is transmitted to the host device 7 via the communication cable 8 according to a prescribed procedure.

When data reading fails, data is not transmitted to the host device 7. The person who has performed the operation can determine whether the reading has succeeded or failed by notifying the display or sound of the magnetic card reading unit 3 or the display or sound of the host device 7.

The operation of the data processing board 9 is shown in the flowchart of FIG. The magnetic card reader 3 is normally in a data waiting state (step 22). If the card information has been input, it is determined whether the data has been correctly input (step 23). Here, the data length, data configuration, check digit, and the like are confirmed. If the data is normal (step 23 is YES), data transfer is performed according to the determined data transfer procedure (step 2).
4).

If the data transfer has been completed normally (YES in step 26), the end of the data transfer is notified to the person who operated the device by displaying a lamp or sound (step 27). However, the normal end processing (step 27) may be performed by the host device 7. It is judged as abnormal data (Step 2
3 is NO), if the data transmission fails (step 2
6 is NO), the abnormal end is notified to the person who operated by displaying a lamp or sound (step 28).

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 61-260377 discloses a contact which electrically contacts a card contact for information transmission on a card in which an integrated circuit (IC) is built, and the contact and the contact. There has been proposed a card reader having a contact inspector for checking a contact state of a card reader having a control section for reading data in an IC via the IC.

That is, by adding a contact inspection device, it is determined whether the reading error is caused by the abnormality of the IC card itself or the abnormality of the contact of the reading device. The purpose is to clarify.

However, although the IC card has a feature of being able to record a large amount of data, it is inevitable that the cost is higher than that of the magnetic card. Further, electrical contacts (contacts) need to be interposed between the IC card and the card reader (reading device), and the electrical contacts are uncertain due to, for example, hand marks on the contact portions of the IC card. There is a problem that read reliability is lost.

[0012]

In the conventional (magnetic) card reader, the life of the magnetic head is detected by the operator (store), and there is a problem that the countermeasure tends to be sent. In other words, it is difficult to determine the cause of the failure in reading the magnetic card. This is because it is not easy to determine whether the cause is dirt.

If the operator of the card is not the person on the store side but the card holder (customer), the person on the store side does not know the state of the card reader at all and knows that the state of the magnetic head is bad. There are problems that may not be there. That is, the information that has been read and lost does not remain anywhere.

An object of the present invention is to provide a card reader capable of analyzing the cause of a reading failure, a reading error processing method thereof, and a recording medium recording a control program therefor.

[0015]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A card reader according to the present invention is a card reader for reading written data by moving a magnetic stripe of a magnetic card into contact with a magnetic head, wherein the read data is predetermined. Data determining means for determining whether the read data conforms to the prescribed format, and failure data transmitting means for transmitting the data as failure data to the higher-level device when the read data does not conform to the prescribed format. And a card reader characterized by including the following.

Further, the data determining means has a notifying means for notifying normality / abnormality of the read data, and the notifying means is provided in the host device. Still further, the prescribed format includes a fixed data length, a fixed data configuration, and a check digit.

According to the present invention, there is provided a read error processing method for a card reader for reading and reading written data by moving a magnetic stripe of a magnetic card into contact with a magnetic head, wherein the read data is predetermined. A determination step of determining whether the read data conforms to the prescribed format, and a transmission step of transmitting the read data as failure data to a higher-level device when the read data does not conform to the prescribed format. A processing method is obtained.

According to the present invention, a recording medium for recording a program for causing a computer to execute a read error processing method of a card reader for reading written data by moving a magnetic stripe of a magnetic card into contact with a magnetic head. Determining whether the read data conforms to a predetermined format; and transmitting the read data to the higher-level device as failure data when the read data does not conform to the predetermined format. And a recording medium on which a program including steps is recorded.

The operation of the present invention is as follows. Since data is sent to the host device even in the case of a reading failure, the notification of the reading failure comes, and in the host device, the number of the card reader in which the failure occurred, the operator in the event of the failure, The number of the failed card can be stored as data. That is, since the upper device treats the operator as data and knows the number by re-reading the card, the cause can be identified by periodically viewing the totalized data.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of a card reader according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, a card reader according to the present invention includes magnetic heads 5 and 6 for reading data from a magnetic stripe 2 of a magnetic card 1 and a data processing board (computer; mainly a CPU for confirming the read data). (Including recording device according to)
9, a magnetic card reading unit 3 containing magnetic heads 5, 6 and a data processing board 9, and a higher-level device (central processing unit; computer; CP) for controlling a card reader system
U, including a recording device if necessary) 7 and a communication cable 8 for connecting the host device 7 and the magnetic card reader 3
It is composed of

In FIG. 3, a magnetic card 1 has a magnetic stripe 2 which contains data. A dedicated card reader is used to read this data.
In the case of the manual magnetic card reader 3 shown in FIG. 4, the magnetic card 1 is moved in the direction of the arrow shown by the operator, and the data on the magnetic stripe 2 is read by the magnetic heads 5 and 6.

Similarly, the automatic magnetic card reader 3 shown in FIG. 5 is automatically moved in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG.
Data is read by the magnetic heads 5 and 6. FIG.
The data is also sent to the data processing board 9 where it is checked whether the read data conforms to a predetermined format. If there is no problem, the data is read. The data transmitted to the host device 7 via the communication cable 8 in accordance with the determined procedure.

In the conventional magnetic card reader 3,
When the data reading fails, the data is not transmitted to the host device 7, but the card reader 3 according to the present invention also transmits data indicating the failure to the host device 7 when the data reading fails. It remains the same for the operator to determine whether reading has succeeded or failed based on the lamp display or sound display on the card reader 3 or the lamp display or sound display on the host device 7.

The operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The magnetic card reader 3 is normally in a data waiting state (step 22). If the card information has been input, it is determined whether the data has been correctly input (step 23). Here, the data length, data configuration, check digits, and the like are confirmed. In the case of normal data (YES in step 23), data transfer to the host device 7 is performed according to the determined data transfer procedure (step 24).

If the data transfer is normally completed (YES in step 26), the normal completion is notified to the person who operated by lamp or sound (step 27). However, the normal end process in step 27 may be performed by the host device 7.

When it is determined that the data is abnormal (step 2
3 is NO), and transmits special data indicating a read failure to the host device 7 (step 25). After that, the operation is notified to the person who operated by an abnormal end lamp or sound (step 28).
If the data transmission is lost (NO in step 26), since the reading of the magnetic card 1 has been successful, the abnormal end is merely notified to the person who operated the device by a lamp or a sound.

When it is determined that the data is abnormal (step 2
3 is NO), and transmits special data indicating a read failure to the host device 7 (step 25). However, at this time, it is normal that the data check is also performed in the host device 7. Therefore, it is preferable that the data format of the read failure is close to the correct data. For example, a method of using a clearly unused number on a credit card in the company.

However, since this is a device unique (dedicated) to the user (individual store), there is a disadvantage in that the versatility is lost. In order to have versatility, except for the basic codes and marks, leave the rest at 0,
Seems no problem. Also, if a device is added, the host device 7 can send only a few bytes of data in the event of an error (failure in reading), and can put error information in the bytes.

The data is then communicated to the operator by means of an abnormal end lamp or sound (step 28). If the data transmission has failed (NO in step 26), the reading of the magnetic card 1 has been successful, and the abnormal end is simply communicated to the person who operated the device by a lamp or sound (step 28).

Statistics are obtained based on the read failure information obtained here, and the number of the card reader in which the failure occurred is
The operator who is the operator at the time of the failure and the number of the card at the time of the failure are stored as data. The status of the device can be estimated from the accumulated data. Also, counting the total number of readings of the device provides more useful information.

Further, in order to provide versatility, it is only necessary to allow a switch to set whether or not to transmit data when reading fails. There is also a method of setting data to be sent when a failure occurs on the store side. After the data registration state is set by the switch, if a card that records data to be sent when reading fails is read and set, the same device can be used for each user (shop).

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, whether the failure of reading the magnetic card is caused by an operation error of the person who operated the card, the quality of the magnetic card is poor, or the magnetic head is worn or dirty. There is an effect that separation can be easily performed. That is, since the reading failure state is expressed as a number, it can be objectively determined.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an external view of a magnetic card.

FIG. 4 is a top view of the manual magnetic card reader.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the automatic magnetic card reader.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an example of a conventional card reader.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Magnetic card 3 Card reader (body) 5, 6 Magnetic head 7 Host device 8 Communication cable 9 Data processing device

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A card reader for reading written data by moving a magnetic stripe of a magnetic card into contact with a magnetic head, and determining whether the read data conforms to a predetermined format. A card reader comprising: data determination means for determining; and failure data transmission means for transmitting the data as failure data to the higher-level device when the read data does not conform to the prescribed format. 2. The card reader according to claim 1, wherein said data judging means has a notifying means for notifying normality / abnormality of the read data. 3. The card reader according to claim 2, wherein said notification means is provided in said higher-level device. 4. The card reader according to claim 1, wherein the prescribed format includes a fixed data length, a fixed data configuration, and a check digit. 5. A reading error processing method for a card reader for reading and reading written data by moving a magnetic stripe of a magnetic card into contact with a magnetic head, wherein the read data is in a predetermined format. A read error processing method, comprising: a determination step of determining whether or not the read data is matched; and a transmission step of transmitting the read data as failed data to a higher-level device when the read data does not match the prescribed format. 6. The reading error processing method according to claim 5, wherein said determining step includes a notifying step of notifying normality / abnormality of said read data. 7. A recording medium on which a program for causing a computer to execute a read error processing method of a card reader for reading written data by moving a magnetic stripe of a magnetic card into contact with a magnetic head is recorded. Determining whether the read data conforms to a predetermined prescribed format; and transmitting the read data to the higher-level device as failure data when the read data does not conform to the prescribed format. A recording medium on which a program is recorded.