JPS62187989A - Card system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To add an interest to a balance by storing shopping dates and the balances of respective dates to a card. CONSTITUTION:An area for storing a card purchasing date, shopping dates and balances in respective shopping dates is formed on the card and a card reader/writer is provided with an interest calculating means for calculating the interest of the final data or up to the current time from the dates and the balances of respective dates based on a previously fixed rate and a means for adding the calculated interest to the final balance. Since the interest is added to the balance of the card even if the card owner has no bank deposit, the card system is not unprofitable as compared to bank deposit or the like even if the card is not used for a long period.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Technical Field The present invention relates to a card system that allows purchases to be made using a so-called coupon card in which an amount of money is stored in advance.

(b) Prior Art and Its Disadvantages In systems using cards in which the amount, etc. is stored in advance on the card, and the amount is updated each time a purchase is made and re-stored as the remaining amount, the customer does not have to carry cash. Cards can be used as an alternative medium to cash. Conventional card systems using this card store the amount of money in a storage section (magnetic stripe, IC memory, etc.) provided on the card, and each time a card reader/writer makes a purchase, the amount of money is used to store the amount of money. I subtract the amount spent and re-memorize the remaining amount. However, in this type of card system, interest is not earned on the remaining balance of the card, so if the remaining balance is large and is not used for a long period of time, the card holder is at a disadvantage compared to bank deposits that earn interest. There were some inconveniences.

(0) Purpose of the Invention The purpose of this invention is to store the "Purchase 1" tag on the card and the remaining amount for each date, so that the card reader/writer can calculate the interest based on that data. To provide a card system in which interest is added to the remaining amount in the same way as a normal bank deposit, even if the owner does not use the card for a long period of time.

(d) Structure and effect of the invention This invention provides a card with an area for storing card purchase dates, shopping dates, and balances for each date,
The card reader/like is provided with an interest calculation means that calculates interest up to the final date or the present using a predetermined interest rate from those dates and the balance on each date, and a means for adding the calculated interest to the balance on the final date. It is characterized by having the following.

With this structure, according to the present invention, the cardholder can earn interest on the remaining balance of the card even if he or she has not deposited it in the bank, so that the cardholder can avoid using the card for a long period of time.
However, it has the advantage that there are no disadvantages compared to bank deposits. Therefore, even if the remaining amount on the card is large, the cardholder does not have to consider the hassle of transferring a portion of the remaining amount to bank deposit, which improves services for cardholders and allows the card to become widely used. can be done. Furthermore, since interest calculation is automatically performed on the card reader/writer side, when a central computer is connected to this system, there is an advantage that the burden on the central computer is extremely reduced.

(e) Embodiment FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a card reader/writer used in a card system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This card reader/writer 1 includes a read head 2 and a write head 3, and reads and writes data on a magnetic card 5 conveyed along a card conveyance path 4. The magnetic card 5 stores the card purchase price and the purchase price, as well as the date of purchase and the remaining amount on that date. The read head 2 reads all the data on this magnetic stripe and sends it to the control section. The write head 3 also rewrites data sent from the control section onto the magnetic stripe. After the necessary reading/writing is performed, the magnetic card 5 is returned from the card reader/writer 1 to the card insertion slot. A display 6 is provided above the card insertion slot of the card reader/writer 1. This display 6 displays the remaining amount as of the last shopping date when the magnetic card 5 is inserted and reading and writing to the magnetic stripe is completed. As will be described later, interest is added to this balance from the time the card was purchased to the last purchase. The cardholder can know the current balance with interest added by looking at the displayed content. At this time, of course, the remaining amount with the displayed interest is stored on the magnetic stripe.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the control section of the card reader/writer 1. As shown in FIG. This control section configured with a microcomputer system exchanges signals between the head section 10 connected to Ilo and the display section 11. Head part 10
is a magnetic head for reading 2. Magnetic head 3 for writing
and drives for these heads. The display section 11 includes the display 6 and its driving section. The magnetic stripe data read by the magnetic head 2 for reading is Il.
The data is stored in a predetermined area of the RAM through o. FIG. 4 shows the magnetic stripe data stored in the RAM. Area Ml stores the card purchase date, and area M2 stores the card purchase amount. Area M3 stores the date of the first purchase, area M4 stores the balance as of that date, area M5 stores the date of the second purchase, and area M6 stores the balance as of that date. ing. Further, in FIG. 5, a magnetic card 5 is recorded. Area MB records the card purchase date, area MC records the card purchase amount, area MD records the first purchase date, area ME records the balance on that date, and area MF records the second purchase amount. The shopping date of , and the remaining amount as of that date are stored in the area MG.

After arranging these data read from RAD 2 via Ilo on the RAM, the CPU calculates the interest up to the present based on these data. To calculate the interest rate, a specified interest rate is stored in Area MX in advance, and the interest rate from the card purchase date to the present is calculated from that interest rate and each data shown in FIG. If the interest is now 500 yen, after calculating this interest of 500 yen, area M6
The balance of 12,300 yen will be updated to 12,800 yen. Then the write head 3 writes an area M1 on the magnetic stripe.
- Rewrite the data of M6. At the same time, display 6
Next, the operation of the card reader/writer will be explained. Figure 1 shows the same card reader/
3 is a flowchart showing the general operation of the writer.

In step nl (hereinafter step ni will simply be referred to as ni), the card 5 is inserted. When the card 5 is inserted, the mode is determined in n2. If the mode is shopping mode, steps n3 to n6 are executed. In addition, in the interest calculation mode, n1Q=n16 is executed.

When in shopping mode, the n3 first reads the card data on the magnetic stripe and stores it in the RAM as shown in Figure 4.
Place it on top. Next, in n4, the purchase amount is subtracted from the current remaining amount to obtain a new remaining amount. Further, at n5, the new remaining amount is stored in the RAM together with the date, and at n6, these data are written to the card, the card is ejected, and the process ends.

In the interest calculation mode, the card data is first read in n1O and placed on the RAM as shown in FIG. 4, and the interest is calculated in n1t-n14.

First, the interest from the card purchase date to the first purchase is calculated using nil. For example, in the example shown in Figure 4, the card purchase date is June 11, 1959, and the first purchase date is June 1, 1960.
Calculate interest up to 1st. If the card purchase amount is 30,000 yen and the interest rate stored in Area MX is 1%, the interest rate up to the first shopping date is 300 yen. Next n1
In step 2, interest from the first purchase date to the second purchase date is calculated. In the example shown in FIG. 4, interest from the first shopping date June 11, 1960 to the second shopping date June 11, 1961 is calculated. Note that in this embodiment, interest is calculated by simple interest calculation. Therefore, the interest rate in this case is 20,000 yen x 1%, or 200 yen. Further, for n13 and below, calculate the interest from the second shopping date to the third shopping date, and then calculate the interest from the (n-1)th shopping date to the (fl)th shopping date in the same way. calculate. After calculating all interest, in n14 all interest is added and added to the final balance. In this embodiment, a total of 500 yen (300 yen + 200 yen) is added to the remaining amount stored in area M6 as the total interest. In this example, the remaining amount is 12,800 yen.

This kind of 12,800 yen is displayed on the display 6 at n15, and further encoded on the magnetic stripe at n16. Proceed to.

If you are in interest calculation mode as above, card 5
When inserted, interest is automatically calculated and added to the current balance.

In this embodiment, the interest up to the last purchase date is calculated, but it is also possible to calculate the interest up to the present. When calculating the interest up to the present, calculate the interest from the last purchase date to the present, and add this interest and the above n1l-
Just add the interest calculated in n13 and add it to the remaining amount.

Further, in this embodiment, the shopping mode and the interest calculation mode can be executed in one card reader/writer, but these modes may be executed in separate card readers/writers. Furthermore, although a magnetic card is shown as the cart, an IC card may also be used. When using an IC card with a built-in CPU, the interest calculation
This can be done using the C card itself.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the operation of a card reader/writer used in a card system according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the card reader/writer, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control unit. , FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a part of the RAM area. Further, FIG. 5 shows magnetic stripe data of a magnetic card.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A card with an amount stored on it and a card reader/writer that accepts this card, subtracts the amount spent on shopping from the amount stored on the card to find the remaining amount, and stores the remaining amount on the card again. In the card system, the card is provided with an area for storing card purchase dates, shopping dates, and balances for each date, and the card reader/writer is provided with an area for storing card purchase dates, shopping dates, and balances for each date, and the card reader/writer is provided with an area for storing card purchase dates and shopping dates, and balances for each date. A card system characterized by being provided with an interest calculation means for calculating interest on a final date or up to the present based on a determined interest rate, and a means for adding the calculated interest to the balance on the final date.