JPS6121732Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention is a magnetic card processing device for processing magnetic cards on which information is magnetically recorded and visually readable characters and symbols are printed, such as so-called stored air magnetic cards. It is related to.

Magnetic cards have information recorded magnetically and have visually readable characters (including numbers), symbols, etc. printed on them.
For example, various toll machines and POS (point-of-sale) are used as stored-air information media.
Used in terminals, etc.

For example, a stored-fair magnetic card has a magnetic stripe on one side, on which the remaining amount, number of uses, number of prints, etc. are encoded and recorded. Additionally, the remaining amount, number of uses, etc. are printed on the other side for the user to see.

An example of a printed document is shown in Figure 1.

In other words, what is shown in Figure 1 is a fixed price ticket of 10,000 yen at the time of purchase by the user, and this magnetic card has the balance printed on it each time it is used, and if the balance becomes 0 or negative, a notification will be displayed to indicate the fact at the time of use. is notified, and if the remaining amount becomes 0, the portion below that amount becomes a blank space. Equipment that processes such magnetic cards is
The following three functions need to be performed while the magnetic card is being transported.

(1) Function for reading and processing magnetic information (2) Function for writing magnetic information (3) Function for printing on columns that have reached the number of times of use Now, conventional processing devices perform the printing function described in item (3) above. However, the card must be temporarily stopped at the column to be printed, printed, and then transported again. In addition, the printing position, that is, the stop position is generally the first
As shown in the figure, since there are n rows (n>o), stoppers driven by a solenoid or the like must be installed at n locations along the conveyance direction. That is, as a result, n solenoids were arranged in parallel, resulting in a complicated structure and a problem of low reliability due to the large number of mechanical parts.

The present invention was developed against the background of the above-mentioned circumstances, and includes a magnetic reading head that reads the information recording zone of the magnetic card along the conveyance direction of the magnetic card, and a magnetic reading head that reads the information recording zone of the magnetic card according to the reading result of the reading head. A magnetic write head for updating the information content of the magnetic card and a printing device for printing on the printing zone of the magnetic card are sequentially arranged, and the printing device moves in a direction inclined at a certain angle with respect to the conveying direction of the magnetic card. The main feature is that the printer has a print head and a device that controls the movement of the print head according to the reading result of the reading head, which simplifies the structure for performing the print function and facilitates maintenance. It is an object of the present invention to provide a magnetic card processing device that can also realize improved reliability.

In other words, in this invention, when it is necessary to print on a specific line depending on the number of times the card is used, it is possible to do this while transporting the card instead of installing multiple stoppers and solenoids to temporarily stop the card and printing. Its features are (1) the printing device, such as a dot matrix printer, is arranged diagonally to match the conveyance speed;

(2) Positioning is performed by setting the printing timing, and no positioning stopper is required to print on a predetermined column.

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

FIGS. 2a and 2b are a perspective view and a partially detailed view, respectively, showing the main mechanical structure of an embodiment of the present invention.

1A, 2A, 3A, 4A in Figure 2 a and b
is a driving roller for the stored air card conveyance direction, and 1B, 2B, 3B, and 4B are driven rollers for the same conveyance. 5 is a magnetic recording/reproducing head (hereinafter referred to as a "read head"), and 6 is a magnetic recording head (hereinafter referred to as a "write head"). A detector 7 includes a photo sensor 7A and a light emitting diode 7B, and is configured as a photo interrupter with a light receiving part and a light projecting part facing each other. 8 is a support casing forming a conveyance path. 9 is a printing head of a needle-type dot matrix printer, for example, and 10 is a fixing plate for the printing head 9. A support member 11 having a through hole is attached to the fixed plate 10, and a sliding shaft 12 is inserted through the through hole. 13A, 13B
are supports at both ends of the sliding shaft 12. Therefore, the printing section consisting of the printing head 9, the fixing plate 10, and the support member 11 can be slid along the sliding shaft 12. 14A, 14B are springs for absorbing shock when the printing section reaches both ends of the sliding shaft 12; 15A, 1;
5B is a limit switch for detecting the same arrival.
The sliding shaft 12 is installed at an inclination angle of θ (90° or less) with respect to the conveyance direction y of the stored air card. A loop-shaped timing belt 16 is fixed to the fixed plate 10, and is stretched between timing belt pulleys 17A and 17B to which bearings such as supports 13A and 13B are fixed. 18 is timing belt belt 1
The motor for sliding the print head 9 through the print head 6 is a reversible motor. MC is a stored air card. Further, 19 is a plantain placed opposite to the print head 9 with the stored air card MC in between, and 20 is a detector consisting of a photo sensor 20A and a light emitting diode 20B like the detector 7.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control section according to FIGS. 2a and 2b, and the same parts as in FIGS. 2a and 2b are given the same reference numerals and detailed explanation thereof will be omitted.

In FIG. 3, 21 is an amplifier for amplifying the signal read by the read head 5, 22 is a waveform shaping section for digitizing the read signal amplified by the amplifier 21, and 23 is a waveform shaping section 22. 24 is an amplifier that amplifies the signal to be written to the stored air card MC by the write head 6; 25 is a calculation unit for the calculation processing unit 23; A magnetic recording data buffer 26 that temporarily stores data to be magnetically recorded among the data based on the results and outputs the data in response to a detection signal from the detector 7, that is, the photo sensor 7A, is activated by the detection signal of the photo sensor 7A and performs calculations. A counter 27 serves as a delay circuit that counts the number of counts according to data for setting a print column among data based on the calculation result of the processing unit 23, and 27 is a magnetic recording data buffer 25.
A clock generating section 28 generates a clock signal for magnetic recording to be given to the counter 26, a clock signal given as a count signal to the counter 26, etc.; Print data buffer temporarily stored using the clock signal from 27, 29
30 is an amplifier which amplifies the print data given through gate 29 and supplies it to print head 9; The motor 1 for moving the printing head is activated by the count completion output of the counter 26.
This is a motor control circuit that starts the printer 8 and moves the print head 9.

Next, the operation in such a configuration will be explained.

Stored air card MC has driving roller group 1
A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B
It is driven back and forth. During this time, the read head 5 reads the remaining amount, number of uses, and other information regarding the next print line encoded and recorded on the magnetic stripe. This read signal is amplified by an amplifier 21 and digitized by a waveform shaping section 22. Then, the arithmetic processing unit 23 processes the remaining amount and determines the new remaining amount, new number of uses, and the like. Of this new data, the data to be magnetically recorded is stored in the magnetic recording data buffer 25, and the data to be printed is stored in the print data buffer 28. Stored Fair Card
When the MC comes to the position of the detector 7, the data stored in the magnetic recording data buffer 25 is inputted to the write head 6 via the amplifier 24, and encoding recording to the storage card MC is started. A clock signal for magnetic recording is generated by a clock generator 27.
given from. Further, when the stored air card MC comes to the position of the detector 7, the counter 26 is activated. This counter 26 is connected to the clock generator 2.
The clock signal generated at 7 is counted, and the initial setting of the count value is performed based on the print column data determined by the arithmetic processing section 23. When the counter 26 completes the count output, the print data from the print data buffer 28 is applied to the amplifier 30 via the gate 29, and printing by the print head 9 is started. The above-mentioned count end output is also input to the motor control circuit 31, which starts the motor 18 for moving the print head, and moves the print head 9 in the direction H in the figure by the timing belt 16.

Next, the printing operation will be explained in detail with reference to FIG. 4. In Fig. 4, time t ₀ (time when card MC crosses detector 7)
The card position at time t ₁ (printing start) is MC ₁ , the card position at time _{t 2 (} printing end) is MC ₂ , and the x-axis and y-axis coordinates are shown. The position of the print head F at time t ₁ is determined as (o ₁ , y ₁ ), and the position at time t ₂ is (x ₂ , y ₂ ).
Let V _T be the card conveyance speed along the y direction, and V _P be the printing speed along the x direction, that is, [character width x number of printed characters per unit time].

First, the operation of the counter 26 up to the start of printing will be explained.

The required delay time T is expressed as T= _t1 - _t0 . As described above, the value of T is determined by the data read by the read head 5, that is, the print column designation data.

In general, T when you want to print on the nth line is T=Tc+(n- ₁ )t _L ...(1) 〓However, Tc; The first line after detection by the detector 7 is (x ₁ ,
Time required to reach position _y1 ) T _L ; expressed as the time required for the card MC to be conveyed one line.

Since Tc and t _L in the above equation are constants determined by the device, and n is determined from the reproduced data, it is possible to print on a designated line.

Next, we will discuss how to find the angle θ.

At time t ₁ , the print head 9 is located at (x ₁ , y ₁ ), and the character "1" is printed in the first column of the first line in the figure. Since the card MC is being conveyed as it is, in order to print the second, third, and fourth characters, the print head 9 must be moved not only in the x direction but also in the y direction and positioned relative to the card in the y direction. The relationship must be constant. That is, by moving the print head 9 in the H direction inclined at an angle θ with respect to the y direction, at time t ₂ when printing the last column, the print head 9 is at the position (x ₂ , y ₂ ), and the card is at the position MC ₂
It is now possible to print horizontally on the card.

Therefore, the angle θ can be determined using the following equation.

θ=tan. ₁ V _P /V _T ...(2) Then, the moving speed V of the head in the H direction is
The value that is the sum of V _P and V _T , that is, √ _P ² + _T ²
becomes.

In this way, the stored air card MC that has been printed is transferred to the roller 1 by the detection signal from the detector 20.
A, 1B to 4A, 4B are reversed and discharged.

In this way, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) Since the moving direction of the print head (dot printer) 9 is made to swing at an acute angle with respect to the card transport direction, printing can be performed without stopping card transport, making it possible to improve processing speed, that is, service time. .

(2) Since the positioning of printing is performed by using an electrical delay means without using a stopper, the large number of stopper groups and solenoid groups that were required in the past are unnecessary, and the structure is simplified. In addition, reliability and maintainability can be improved.

(3) There are other advantages such as a reduction in the number of parts due to the simplified configuration.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, and various modifications can be made without changing the gist thereof.

For example, the present invention is not limited to a stored air type card processing apparatus, but may be used in other card processing apparatuses, and the print head may be of a type other than the wire dot type.

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, a magnetic reading head reads the information recording zone of the magnetic card in the transport direction of the magnetic card, and information of the information recording zone is read according to the reading result of the reading head. A magnetic write head for updating contents and a printing device for printing in the printing zone of the magnetic card are sequentially arranged, and the printing device is a printing head that moves in a direction inclined at a certain angle with respect to the conveyance direction of the magnetic card. and a device for controlling the movement of the printing head according to the reading result of the reading head, which simplifies the structure for performing the printing function and facilitates maintenance. At the same time, it is possible to provide a magnetic card processing device that can also realize improved reliability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a printing example of a stored air type magnetic card, and FIGS. 2a and 2b are a perspective view and a partial detail view, respectively, showing the main structure of a mechanical part in an embodiment of the present invention. side) view, 3rd
The figure is a block diagram showing the main part configuration of the control section in the same embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the same embodiment. 1A to 4A, 1B to 4B...driving roller, 5
...Magnetic recording/reproducing head (read head), 6...
...Magnetic recording head (write head), 7,20...
...Detector, 8...Support housing, 9...Print head,
10... Fixed plate, 11... Support member, 12... Sliding shaft, 13A, 13B... Support body, 14A, 14
B... Spring, 15A, 15B... Limit switch, 16... Timing belt, 17A, 17B
...Timing pulley, 18...Motor, 19...
... platen, 22 ... waveform shaping section, 23 ... arithmetic processing section, 25 ... magnetic recording data buffer, 26
...Counter, 27...Clock generator, 28...
...Print data buffer, 29...gate, 31...
...Motor control circuit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A magnetic reading head that reads an information recording zone of the magnetic card in the direction of conveyance of the magnetic card, and a magnetic writing head that updates the information content of the information recording zone according to the reading result of the reading head.
A printing device that prints on the printing zone of the magnetic card is sequentially arranged, and the printing device has a printing head that moves in a direction inclined at a certain angle with respect to the conveying direction of the magnetic card, and a printing device that prints on the reading result of the reading head. 1. A magnetic card processing device comprising: a device for controlling movement of the print head accordingly.