JPH02235196A - Card system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate need for storing card identification (ID) information and to reduce the production cost of a card system by receiving both of a prepaid type memory card on which numerical information indicating the prepaid amount is recorded and a memory card on which ID information indicating the paying destination of the prepaid amount is recorded by a card receiving means. CONSTITUTION:A card system 1000 is prepared for settling the price of sailed commodities by means of a memory card and the prepaid type memory card on which numerical information indicating the prepaid amount is recorded and a post paying type memory card on which numerical information indicating the ID code of a post-paying destination is recorded are received by the card receiving means 100. Whether any one of numerals A to F (hexadecimal numbers) which is a part of the ID code indicating the price paying destination is included in respective numerals of the hexadecimal numerical information of the received card or not is decided by a deciding means 200. When the decided result is NO, the received card is a price paying type is discriminated by a card sort discriminating means 300.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a cart system that allows payment for products for sale using both memory cards, such as a prepayment type memory card and a deferred payment type memory card.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Card systems have been known for use in cash registers and vending machines for making payments for sold products. Conventionally, methods using memory cards for payment in advance and payment in deferred methods have been proposed as payment methods for products in this type of card system. In the prepayment method, a memory card is treated as a cash voucher, and numerical information indicating the price paid in advance by the user is recorded on the memory card in advance.For example, a vending machine stores the amount information on the memory card each time a product is sold and records the amount after the payment is settled. This is a method of updating information.

In the deferred payment method, the identification number of the owner or the identification number of each department in the workplace is recorded in advance on a memory card, and when the product is sold, the vending machine reads the identification number from the memory card and stores the identification number. The sales price information is accumulated and stored in the memory inside the vending machine. Next, at the payment time, the sales price information stored in the memory is read and output for each identification number, and the owner of the vending machine requests each individual or department to settle the price.

When both such prepaid and deferred payment cards can be used in a card system, such as a vending machine, conventionally, a memory card storage medium has a storage area that stores attribute information indicating whether it is a prepaid or deferred payment method. This area is separate from the area for storing numerical information indicating amounts or identification numbers. When a memory card is accepted on the vending machine side, the vending machine reads the attribute information of the memory card, determines whether it is a prepayment method or a deferred payment method based on the numerical value, and determines whether the numerical information is the amount or not. , the identification number was identified.

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] However, recording attribute information indicating whether the prepayment method or the deferred payment method is on the memory card is a problem for vending machine manufacturers to increase the storage capacity of the memory card.
Furthermore, there was a problem in that it led to an increase in the size of the memory card reading device on the vending machine side. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a card system that does not require a dedicated storage area for attribute information.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve such an object, a first aspect of the present invention provides a card system in which payment for sold products is made using a memory card, in which numerical information indicating the prepaid amount is...
A card accepting means capable of accepting both a recorded prepaid type memory card and a paid deferred type memory card recorded with numerical information indicating an identification code of a payee of the deferred payment amount; Among the numbers constituting the hexadecimal numerical information of the memory card, any number from "A" to "F" (in hexadecimal notation) that forms part of the identification code indicating the payment destination. a determination means for determining whether or not the determination means includes a memory card; and when the determination result of the determination means is affirmative, the accepted memory card is identified as the deferred payment type memory card; The present invention is characterized by comprising card type identification means for identifying that the accepted memory card is the deferred payment type memory card when the result is a negative determination.

A second aspect of the present invention provides a card system that accepts different types of memory cards recording various kinds of numerical information, in which each digit of the numerical value constituting the numerical information in binary coded decimal notation recorded on the memory card is a determination means for determining whether or not any of the numerical values "A" to "F" (in hexadecimal notation) forming part of a predetermined identification code is included; and a determination result of the determination means. If the judgment is positive, please refer to 2 above.
Identification means that identifies the numerical information in evolved decimal notation form as an identification code, and when the determination result of the determination means is a negative determination, identifies the numerical information in binary evolved decimal notation form as monetary information. It is characterized by having the following.

(Function) In the first embodiment of the present invention, the amount information is usually “0” to “9”.
(hexadecimal) only, and if "9" (hexadecimal) is expressed in bits, 4 bits are required, and these 4 bits are used to form the value "9" (hexadecimal).
Focusing on the fact that it is also possible to write numbers "A" to "F" (hexadecimal numbers), numerical information can be expressed by using the numbers "A" to "F" (hexadecimal numbers) as identification codes for deferred payment. As a result, in the present invention, the numerical values used for memory cards are
By determining whether only "0" to "9" or "A" to "F" are used, the card type identifying means identifies whether the memory card is for prepayment or for deferred payment. .For this reason, the memory card only needs to store the numerical value indicating the amount or identification code, so there is no need for a storage area that indicates the attribute information for card identification that indicates the type of memory card, which was required in the past. Therefore, it is possible to contribute to reducing the manufacturing cost of the Mesori card.

In the second embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to identify whether the numerical information on the memory card is monetary information or identification information, so it is possible to distinguish between the above-mentioned memory card for payment settlement and, for example, a memory card for a bank. Various types of memory cards such as credit card memory cards can be accepted together, and the types of memory cards that can be accepted are expanded in the card system, and there is no need to store card attribute information.

〔Example〕

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

FIG. 1(A) shows the functional configuration of a first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1(A), a block 1000 indicated by a dashed dotted line indicates a card system for making payments for sold products using a memory card. 100 is a card acceptance unit that can accept both a prepayment type memory card that records numerical information indicating the amount paid in advance and a payment deferred type memory card that records numerical information indicating the identification code of the recipient of the deferred payment amount. It is a means.

200 is "A" which forms part of the identification code indicating the payment destination in each numerical value constituting the hexadecimal numerical information of the memory card accepted by the card accepting means.
This is a determination means that determines whether any of the numbers from ~“F” (hexadecimal notation) is included. 300 identifies that the accepted memory card is a deferred payment type memory card when the determination result of the determination means is a positive determination, and when the determination result of the determination means is a negative determination. 2 is a card type identification means for identifying that the accepted memory card is a deferred payment type memory card. FIG. 1(B) shows the functional configuration of the second embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 2, a dash-dotted block 2000 indicates a card system that accepts different types of memory cards recording various numerical information.

400 is "A" to "F" (hexadecimal notation) forming part of a predetermined identification code among the numerical values of each digit constituting the numerical information in the binary coded decimal notation format recorded on the memory card. This is a determination means for determining whether any of the numerical values are included.

500 identifies that the numerical information in the binary coded decimal notation form is an identification code when the determination result of the determination means is a positive determination, and when the determination result of the determination means is a negative determination,
It is an identification means for identifying that the numerical information in the binary coded decimal notation form is monetary information.

FIG. 2(A) shows an example of the configuration of a memory card according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the second (A), the information storage medium in the memory card has a numerical storage area 1 to 6 digits each consisting of 4 bits.
It has 6.

Also, in the area l of the most significant digit, the number “OI’~” is expressed in hexadecimal notation.
"9"' A memory card on which a numerical value from "O" to "1001" is written in binary notation is treated as a prepaid memory card. Also, in area 1 of the most significant digit, “
A” to “F”, “101G’” to “11” in binary notation
Memory cards with numbers up to 11" are treated as deferred payment memory cards.

Figures 2 (B) to (E) show examples of displaying numerical values stored in various cards in hexadecimal notation. A hexadecimal number "B" is assigned as the number to indicate.

FIG. 3 shows the circuit configuration of a vending machine that performs payment using a memory card.

In FIG. 3, 11 is a card reader/writer, which inserts and ejects a memory card and reads/writes numerical information to/from the memory card. 12 is a control unit that controls the operation of the entire vending machine;
It is mainly composed of a central processing unit (CPU) 12-1, a read-only memory (ROM) 12-2, and a non-volatile random access memory (RAM) 12-3.

In addition to well-known control procedures for product sales, the ROM 12-2 stores a control procedure for identifying a memory card shown in FIG. 4, which is executed by the CPU 12-1.

The RAM 12-3 temporarily stores the input/output data of the CPU 12-1, and also aggregates and stores the sales amount for each payee identification number in the payment processing of the deferred payment method.

Reference numeral 13 denotes an input device for inputting various sales setting data to the control unit 12 in addition to instructing the output of the deferred payment amount, and uses a numeric keypad.

14 is a product delivery configuration for transporting products designated by CPLll2-1. Reference numeral 15 denotes a group of selection switches through which the product purchaser instructs the control unit 12 about the product he or she wishes to purchase.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a group of sales lamps that light up in response to instructions from the control unit, and are provided for each product to indicate that the product is in stock and ready for sale.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a printing device, which prints the amount of deferred payment and the identification number of the payee according to instructions from the control unit 12.

FIG. 4 shows a control procedure executed by Crtll2-1 shown in FIG. 3 to identify a memory card.

In FIG. 4, when a memory card is inserted into the card reader/writer 1l, [:PUl2-1 instructs the card reader/writer 1l to read numerical information from the memory card, and then sends the numerical information from the card reader/writer 11. The received read information is stored in the RAM 12-3 (step 2
~3). Subsequently, the type of the inserted memory card is identified by determining whether the value of the most significant digit is greater than or equal to "A" (hexadecimal notation) (step SS).

As a result of this card identification, if the memory card is determined to be a prepaid memory card, after normal sales processing, the balance information after payment is written to the memory card, and then,
Eject the memory card (step S6→Sa).

When the memory card identified by the card identification is determined to be a deferred payment type memory card, after normal sales processing, the sales amount is settled in the payment amount information in the storage area indicated by the identification number of the payment destination in the memory.

Next, the memory card is ejected and the control procedure ends (step S7→Sa).

In addition, when the vending machine owner instructs list printing using an instruction switch (not shown) on the day of settlement of deferred payment, C.
After the PU 12-1 prints this instruction, it prints all payment amount information and payee identification numbers from the memory in the form of a list (table) (step S1-51-1).

In this embodiment, the type of memory card is identified by the value of the most significant digit of the numerical value stored in the memory card, or the most significant digit or any other digit position may be used.
GPIJ depending on the numerical value of the deferred payment system identification number.
The digit position of the numerical value to be identified by 12-1 may be determined.

In addition, in this example, the digit position of the numerical value to be identified is predetermined, but if the CPU 12-1 sequentially shifts the digit position of the numerical information to determine the size of the numerical value, it is especially possible to memorize numerical values of "A" or higher. There is no need to decide on the digit position to be used, and the range of numerical values that can be handled by the identification number can be expanded.

Further, although this embodiment shows an example in which the present invention is applied to a vending machine, the present invention can also be applied to a register or other electronic device that handles payment settlement.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the prepayment type card and the deferred payment type card are explained, but it is not limited to the memory card for payment settlement, but also the payment amount information and other identification (IO) code, such as the payment card and the bank card. It is possible to distinguish numerical information such as It goes without saying that the amount information to be recorded on the memory card may be not only the prepaid amount but also the deferred payment amount when the item is purchased and the deferred payment is made using the memory card.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the first aspect of the present invention is that the amount information is usually composed of only BCD (binary coded decimal) numbers from "0" to "9" (hexadecimal), and "9"
If (hexadecimal number) is expressed in bits, 4 bits are required,
We focused on the fact that it is possible to represent the numerical values "A" to "F" (hexadecimal numbers) with these 4 bits, and we realized that "A" to "F" (1
By using the numerical value (hexadecimal) as an identification code for deferred payment, the numerical information is given meaning for the type of card. As a result, in the present invention, the numerical values used in the memory card are only "0" to "9" or "A".
Whether the memory card is for advance payment or for deferred payment is determined by determining whether "F" is used or not by the card type identification means.For this reason, the memory card also has an amount or identification code. Since it is only necessary to store the indicated numerical value, there is no need for a storage area that indicates the attribute information for card identification that indicates the type of memory card, which was necessary in the past, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost of the memory card. In the second embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to identify whether the numerical information on the memory card is monetary information or identification information, so that the above-mentioned memory card for payment settlement, For example, various types of memory cards such as bank memory cards and credit card memory cards can be accepted together, which expands the types of memory cards that can be accepted in the card system and eliminates the need to store card attribute information.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 (A) and (B) are block diagrams showing the functional configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, and Figures 2 (A) to (E) are memory diagrams showing the memory configuration and storage contents of a memory card in the embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control procedure for identifying a memory card executed by the CPU 12-1 shown in FIG. 3. be. 11... Card reader/writer, l2... Control unit, l2-1... CPU, l2-2... ROM, 12-3... RAM, l3... Input device, 14... Product delivery mechanism, l5...Product selection switch group, l6... Sales lamp group, l7... Printing device. Figure 1 (A) &Invention Practical Example Memory Card Address $1 Configuration and Blind Self-Content Content 1 Memory Muffin Diagram 2 Figure 2 Figure 1 of the 7' lock diagram (B
) Figure 3 is a block diagram showing circuit structure 3 of an example of rejection of the present invention.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Patent Claims] 1) A card system for paying for products sold using a memory card, which includes a prepayment type memory card in which numerical information indicating the prepaid amount is recorded, and an identification code of the recipient of the deferred payment. a card accepting means capable of accepting a deferred payment type memory card having numerical information recorded thereon; “A” to “F” form part of the identification code indicating the payment destination
(in hexadecimal notation); and when the determination result of the determination means is affirmative, the accepted memory card is a deferred payment type memory card. and card type identification means for identifying that the accepted memory card is the deferred payment type memory card when the judgment result of the judgment means is negative. . 2) In a card system that accepts different types of memory cards that record various kinds of numerical information, a predetermined identification mark is included in each digit of the numerical information in binary coded decimal notation recorded on the memory card. a determining means for determining whether any of the numerical values "A" to "F" (hexadecimal notation) forming part of the code is included; and when the determination result of the determining means is positive, the above-mentioned binary evolution 1
Identifying numerical information in decimal notation as an identification code,
A card system characterized by comprising: an identification means for identifying that the numerical information in the binary coded decimal notation form is monetary information when the judgment result of the judgment means is a negative judgment.