JPS63197004A - Information recording method for magnetic card - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate an illegally recorded card by recording the second information in the same direction as the first information has been recorded in the remaining part of a roughly triangular shape, in which the first information could not be recorded, in the tip or the rear end of a magnetic recording band. CONSTITUTION:Many information is recorded obliquely against the lengthwise direction of a magnetic stripe 2 in the B direction and a helical recording part 5 is formed, but in the front end and the rear end in the advance direction of the magnetic stripe 2, the remaining parts which become a roughly triangular shape, respectively, and cannot form a track of normal length by this helical recording part 5 is left. In this remaining part of the magnetic stripe 2 which has become a roughly triangular shape, the second information can be written obliquely against the advance direction of a magnetic card 1, in the direction being parallel to the direction where the first information has been written, and by this second information, a password number related to its magnetic card and specific information can be contained. In such a way, the safety for utilizing the magnetic card 1 can be maintained high.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a magnetic card recording method, and particularly to a method that can record a large amount of information in a small area.
The present invention relates to an information recording method for a magnetic card, in which two different pieces of information (first and second information) can be recorded using the same magnetic head, and a magnetic recording band can be used effectively.

[Conventional technology]

Magnetic cards (thin plastic or paper carriers with magnetic stripes pasted on the surface) have been widely used for some time, and for example, they can be used instead of cash to purchase goods or receive services within a predetermined credit balance. Credit card that can be provided 1. It is used in bank cards and cash cards that allow you to use the card to withdraw cash deposited at a bank. In addition, a telephone usage card that allows you to call at a public phone within the amount you have paid in advance, a ticket issuing card that allows you to issue a ticket with a fare within the amount you have paid in advance, or a range of the amount you have paid. Prepaid cards, such as coupon cards that allow you to ride trains or buses within Japan, are widely used. Furthermore, depending on the purpose of use, a specific signal or code may be recorded and attached in advance to an admission permit card that opens a door or gate when the recorded content matches a preset recorded content, or to a price tag of a product. It is also being widely used in POS cards that can record which products were lit and when each time a product was sold.

Although their purpose of use is different, the essential act of attaching or coating a magnetic stripe to a card-shaped carrier and magnetically recording information on the magnetic stripe is the same.

FIG. 1 shows the appearance of a conventional magnetic card 1.
It is made of a carrier such as cardboard or plastic, and a magnetic stripe 2 is coated on the surface of the magnetic card 1 in parallel to its length. When recording information using this magnetic card 1, the magnetic card 1 is conveyed at a constant speed in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 2 by a belt or the like. Then, the magnetic head is fixed, the fixed magnetic head is brought into contact with the surface of the magnetic stripe 2, and information is recorded as a magnetic change on the magnetic stripe 2 according to a conventionally well-known theory. The magnetic stripe 2 shown in FIG. 2 schematically shows the state in which the magnetization recording has been completed, and a magnetization pattern is formed in the magnetic stripe 2 as a parallel recording section 3 in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction. The information can be read only along the direction of arrow A.

However, when information is recorded on a magnetic cart using the conventional recording method, the magnetic head is fixed and the information is magnetically recorded in the direction in which the magnetic card is moved. For example, JIS
According to the standard, only a maximum of 72 characters can be recorded, and the amount of information that can be recorded is extremely limited.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

As you can see, the traditional method of recording information on magnetic cards is
Since the magnetic head is fixed in the direction of conveyance of the card and information is recorded along the direction of conveyance of the magnetic card, there is a limit to its recording capacity.

Because of these shortcomings, in recent years there have been new devices that can record a large amount of information on thin card-shaped carriers, called IC cards that have a built-in high-density integrated circuit, and devices that can record large amounts of information optically using laser light. A device called a recording laser card has also been developed. However, I
C cards have the disadvantage that they are expensive and the contacts for inputting and outputting data must be precisely processed. It also had a characteristic of being extremely weak against static electricity. Next, laser cards can store an extremely large amount of data, and the laser cards themselves are relatively inexpensive. However, laser card writing/reading devices for writing information to and reading information from laser cards require extremely high accuracy and have the drawback of being extremely expensive.

[Means for solving problems]

In view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, the present invention provides a magnetic card in which a magnetic recording band is provided on a part of a thin flat carrier, in which first information is recorded on a plurality of tracks inclined with respect to the traveling direction of the magnetic recording band. , characterized in that second information is recorded in the same direction in which the first information was recorded in the slightly triangular remaining portion where the first information could not be recorded at the leading or trailing edge of the magnetic recording band. The present invention provides a method for recording information on a magnetic card.

[Function] In the present invention, a magnetic stripe is applied to the surface of a carrier to form a magnetic card, and first information can be sequentially written on tracks diagonal to the traveling direction of the magnetic card. This allows the amount of information to be stored to be extremely large, and the manufacturing cost of the cart itself can be reduced. Most of this magnetic stripe is recorded with the first information diagonally with respect to the direction of travel, but at the leading edge or trailing edge of the magnetic stripe, the first information is recorded from one side of the magnetic stripe to the other. In the track on which the oblique first information is recorded, there is a residual portion that has a slightly triangular shape and cannot be written with the first information.

Then, in the remaining part of this slightly triangular magnetic stripe, in a direction parallel to that where the first information was written,
The second information can be written diagonally with respect to the traveling direction of the magnetic card. This second information allows you to set the criteria for determining whether or not the magnetic card is valid and whether or not it can be read by storing the PIN number and specific information about the magnetic card. It is possible.

In other words, when recording first information on a magnetic stripe in a diagonal direction with respect to its traveling direction, azimuth recording devices such as a video tape recorder have already been used, and these azimuth recording devices are already used. Forgery is possible by recording information similar to the first information on a magnetic tape using a device and pasting the azimuthally recorded magnetic tape on a card. However, the magnetic card can be counterfeited with specific information that cannot be read or written from these counterfeit tapes by having secondary information recorded at the leading or trailing edge of the magnetic stripe. Is it something that has been
Furthermore, it is possible to determine whether the information on the magnetic card can be read. In this way, by writing the first information and the second information in the remaining part of the magnetic stripe where the first information could not be written, the security of using the magnetic card is extremely high (maintained). It is something that can be done.

〔Example〕

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

First, FIG. 3 shows the direction in which information is recorded on the magnetic card 1 according to this embodiment. As mentioned above, this magnetic card 1 has the same structure as the conventional magnetic card 1 shown in FIG. be. This magnetic card l is conveyed in the direction indicated by A in FIG. This magnetic stripe 2 is tilted with respect to its length direction, and a rotating head is attached to the magnetic stripe 2 by an arrow B in the figure.
It is formed as a helical recording section 5 in which the first information is sequentially recorded in a large number of tracks in the direction. In this helical recording section 5, a large number of tracks are recorded so as to approach one after another and become parallel to the B direction, and one track is recorded sequentially from one side of the magnetic stripe 2 to the other side. It is. In this way, a large amount of information is recorded diagonally with respect to the length direction of the magnetic stripe 2 in the direction B to form the helical recording section 5, but the magnetic stripe 2
At the front end and the rear end in the traveling direction, there remain residual portions which are slightly triangular in shape and in which a track of a normal length cannot be formed by the helical recording section 5.

In other words, when a rotary head is brought into contact with the magnetic stripe 2 in the direction B and recorded, if the recorded portion from one side of the magnetic stripe 2 to the other side is considered as one track, then the tip of the magnetic stripe 2 and 1 on the rear end
This is because the length is not long enough to form one track, resulting in a slightly triangular unrecordable area. However, even in this triangular part, the magnetic stripe 2 has magnetization ability, so the same rotary head as that used for recording in the helical recording section 5 is used to record information on this slightly triangular part with the arrow B. It is possible to record the preliminary recording portion 6 of a track having a short length in the direction.

The contents of the second information recorded in this preliminary recording section 6 will be explained in detail later. It goes without saying that the recorded portion of the helical recording section 5 and the recorded portion of the preliminary recording section 6 should be spaced apart so that they do not interfere with each other.

Next, FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the tip of the magnetic stripe 2, schematically showing the recorded contents of the second information in the preliminary recording section 6. Here, in the preliminary recording section 6, for example, a password known only to the user of the magnetic card 1, the data name and data number of the information recorded in the helical recording section 5, etc. are digitally recorded. It is something that exists.

Next, FIG. 5 shows the external appearance of a magnetic card writer/reader 10 for embodying this new information recording method.

This magnetic card writer/reader 10 has a slightly rectangular outer shape, and a slit-shaped insertion opening 11 that opens in the vertical direction is opened at a position biased toward one example of the front panel. A slit-shaped discharge port 12 opening upward and downward is opened at a position biased to the side surface. The magnetic card 1 is inserted through an insertion slot 11, and is ejected from an output slot 12 after writing or reading information is completed.

FIG. 6 shows the internal structure of the magnetic card writer/reader 10 described above. Inside the magnetic cart writer/reader 10, a pair of rollers 13 and 14 are pivoted close to the aforementioned insertion opening 11. A helical recording mechanism 15 is installed at the back of the magnetic card reader/writer 10. This helical recording mechanism 15 has almost the same structure as that commonly used in video tapes and the like, and has a cylindrical outer periphery.

The lower part thereof is a fixed cylinder 16 whose cylindrical axis is inclined by an angle θ with respect to the vertical direction, and an inclined card guide 17 is formed as a stepped portion on the outer periphery of the lower part of this fixed cylinder 16. A cylindrical rotary cylinder 19 is mounted on the upper part of the fixed cylinder 16 so as to be rotatable at high speed with both axes being the same.The outer diameter of the rotary cylinder 19 is approximately the same as the outer diameter of the fixed cylinder 16. The rotary heads 20 are mounted at equal intervals from the part 2 of the rotary cylinder 19 to four places around it. Further, at the back of this magnetic card reader/writer 10, on the side opposite to the helical recording mechanism 15, rollers 22 and 23 are in contact and are pivotally supported. A pair of rollers 24 and 25 are in contact with each other and are pivotally supported.

Next, the operation of recording the first and second information on the magnetic card 1 will be explained with reference to FIG.

First, the magnetic card l on which information is to be recorded is inserted into the insertion slot 11 from direction D in the state shown in FIG. 5 or 6. Then, the magnetic cart 1 is clamped by the rollers 13 and 14 as shown in FIG. This roller 1
The magnetic cart l transported in step 3.14 is further transported to the back, and is transported in the direction of the helical recording mechanism 15, and is guided while contacting the upper surface of the card guide 17. In the state shown in FIG. 7 (b) when the magnetic card l first contacts the outer periphery of the fixed cylinder 16, the rotary cylinder 19 is constantly rotating in the direction of the arrow in the figure, and the rotary head 20 is attached to the rotary cylinder 19. Because it is attached, the magnetic card f
The rotating head 20 comes into contact with the magnetic stripe 2 of the magnetic stripe 2, but in the state of FIG.
is the normal length 1 from one side of the magnetic stripe 2 to the other side.
The contact length will not be long enough to record a track. Therefore, in the first stage, it is not possible to record from one side of the magnetic stripe 2 to the other, and the first information is recorded in a short track at the tip of the magnetic stripe 2, and this recording is used as a preliminary recording. It will be recorded as section 6. When the magnetic card 1 is further transferred and advances with the lower part of the magnetic cart 1 in contact with the upper surface of the card guide 17, the magnetic card l is bent and comes into contact with the fixed cylinder 16 and the rotating cylinder 19 along the curved surfaces. .

It is only when the magnetic card l, in its bent state, is wound around one-fourth of the circumference of the rotating cylinder 19 that the rotating head 20 can come into contact with the entire width of the magnetic stripe 2. Become. In this figure 7 (
When the magnetic stripe 2 comes into contact with up to a quarter of the outer circumference of the rotating cylinder 19 as shown in c), since the rotating head is attached to four locations on the rotating cylinder 19 at equal intervals, that one rotation The head 20 has a magnetic stripe 2
It is possible to write a record of one track of normal length from the start of contact to the end of contact from one side to the other. By recording one full-width track by this rotating head 20, the aforementioned helical recording section 5 is formed. When the magnetic card l moves, the rotary cylinder 19 is rotating at high speed, and each rotary head 20 contacts one track between one side of the magnetic stripe 2 and the other side of the magnetic stripe 2. The first information can be written in a state where the two do not overlap. When the magnetic cart 1 is still being transported and the rear end of the magnetic card 1 is further away from the position where the magnetic card 1 first contacts the rotating cylinder 19, the rotating head 20 moves over the entire width of the magnetic stripe 2. Then, the recording of the first information in the diagonal direction in the helical recording section 5 ends. The transferred magnetic card 1 is then held between rollers 22 and 23, and is moved with its transfer direction reversed to a right angle direction (see FIG. 7(d)). The magnetic card 1, which has been reversed by the rollers 22 and 23, is held between the rollers 24 and 25, and is ejected from the ejection port 12 in the direction E (see FIG. 7(E)).

In this way, the inside of the magnetic card writer/reader 10 is inserted into the magnetic card 1.
When the magnetic stripe 2 is transported, the four rotary heads 20 provided in the helical recording mechanism 15 record the second information by the preliminary recording section 6 at the tip of the magnetic stripe 2, and most of the second information is recorded by the helical recording section 5. The first information will be written.

When reading the information recorded in this way,
By inserting the magnetic card 1 through the insertion slot 11 in the same manner as described above, the preliminary recording section 6 into which the rotary head 20 has already written
and the respective information in the helical recording section 5 can be read.

Note that FIG. 8 shows another embodiment of the method of recording the first information and the second information on the magnetic stripe 2. In FIG.

1 ζ That is, first, in the first embodiment, the rotating head 2
Each of the No. 0 magnetic heads was provided with a gap perpendicular to its rotation direction. However, in this embodiment, among the four rotary heads 20 attached to the rotary cylinder 19, the inclination angle of the gap between the adjacent rotary heads 20 is changed, so that the adjacent tracks X, Y, which are sequentially recorded. It is also possible to perform recording by so-called azimuth recording, in which magnetic recording directions are recorded so that they do not interfere with each other. According to this azimuth recording, the proximity of adjacent tracks X and Y can be made extremely high, and the degree of integration of tracks in the magnetic stripe 2 can be increased, so that the recording capacity of the second information can be made extremely high. It is something that can be done. Further, the preliminary recording section 6 can record a predetermined cipher reading start code using numbers or codes. Since this reading start code is recorded, the rotary head 20 first reads this reading start code, and the reading start code must match the code set in advance in the magnetic card writer/reader 10. It is assumed that the magnetic card l has been illegally recorded, and the second information stored in the helical recording section 5 is not read or written. However, if the reading start code matches a preset code, the second information recorded in the helical recording section 5 can be read and normal writing and reading operations can be performed. . This makes it possible to eliminate counterfeit magnetic cards in which a magnetic tape recorded by a helical recording mechanism is simply attached to the card.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since the present invention is configured as described above, the storage capacity can be dramatically increased while using a magnetic card having the same configuration as the conventional one. For this reason, it is possible to record information with a storage capacity comparable to that of an IC card or laser card while using an inexpensive magnetic card, and the mechanism for writing and reading that information is compared to the writing/reading device of an IC card or laser card. The structure is extremely simple and can be made at low cost. Furthermore, in order to store data in the helical recording section, it is necessary to record only in tracks with a normal length from one side of the magnetic stripe to the other side, but at the front or rear end of the magnetic stripe, the recording is slightly triangular. There are areas where it is not possible,
Second information can be recorded in the same inclination direction on the remaining portion that could not be recorded. This second information can record other information different from that recorded in the first helical recording section, so for example, it can be used to eliminate cards that have been recorded illegally, or to find specific information. Therefore, it is possible to widen the scope of use of magnetic cards with helical recording.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the surface of a conventionally used magnetic card, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of writing information on a conventional magnetic card, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a method of recording information on a magnetic card according to the present invention. An explanatory diagram showing an example, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an enlarged recording method at the tip of the magnetic stripe in FIG. 3, and FIG. A perspective view showing the appearance of the machine,
FIG. 6 is a skeleton diagram showing the internal configuration of the same as above, FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the order of writing and reading information, and FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. l...magnetic card, 2...magnetic stripe, 5...
- Helical recording section, 6... preliminary recording section. Patent Applicant Computer Service Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Tsuneaki Hibi Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 7 Figure 7

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a magnetic card in which a magnetic recording band is provided on a part of a thin flat carrier, the first information is recorded in a plurality of tracks that are inclined with respect to the traveling direction of the magnetic recording band, and the first information is recorded on the leading or trailing edge of the magnetic recording band. A method for recording information on a magnetic card, characterized in that second information is recorded in the same direction in which the first information was recorded in the slightly triangular remaining portion where the first information could not be recorded.