JPH03181005A - Method for preventing magnetic card from being copied - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the use of a forged magnetic card by reading different areas of a magnetic stripe by plural read heads and switching one of these read data by a switching means. CONSTITUTION:A read head body 32 is provided with three read heads RH, and these read heads RH are arranged in such positions apart from one another in the breadthwise direction of a magnetic stripe 16 that they can read different areas within the width of the magnetic stripe, and a switching circuit 49 is provided which selects and outputs one of outputs of read heads RH. A controller 50 is provided which controls switching of the switching circuit 49 by a prescribed pattern. Therefore, data outputted from the switching circuit 49 lacks in data and data is incomplete if the width of the magnetic stripe of the magnetic card is shorter than a determined value. Thus, the use of the forged magnetic card is prevented.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a reading/writing device that can read data on a magnetic card obtained by prepayment and write necessary data on the magnetic card, and in particular, This invention relates to a magnetic card duplication prevention method that can prevent unauthorized use of magnetic cards.

[Conventional technology]

This type of magnetic card reading/writing device is capable of reading data recorded on the magnetic stripe of a prepaid magnetic card using a reading head, and writing necessary data onto the magnetic stripe using a writing head. Devices such as telephones, automatic ticket vending machines,
Used in vending machines, etc.

By the way, the main components of a conventional magnetic card reading/writing device are a reading head that reads data from the magnetic stripe of the magnetic card through relative movement with the magnetic card, and a reading head that reads data from the magnetic stripe of the magnetic card through relative movement with the magnetic card. It is common to have a write head that writes data onto the magnetic stripe of a magnetic card, and a processing device that processes this data and controls the relative movement between the magnetic card and each of the heads.

According to such a magnetic card reading/writing device, when a magnetic card is inserted into the device, the following processing is performed within the device. That is, the magnetic card is moved inside by the transport mechanism, and as the magnetic card moves over the reading head, data is read from the magnetic card via the reading head and is input to the control device. The control device processes read data from the read head and sends it to an external payment processing circuit, processes data sent from the payment processing circuit, and provides the processed data as write data to the write head. Write data is applied to the write head, and movement of the magnetic card over the write head causes the write data to be written to the magnetic card. Then, when the writing of data to the magnetic card is completed, the control device
The data was read from the magnetic card again via the reading head and compared with the data after the above-mentioned deduction to check whether the writing was performed correctly.

By the way, the write head WH in the above-mentioned conventional reading/writing device writes on the entire width of the magnetic stripe MS of the magnetic card, as shown in FIG. Further, the reading head R11 in the above conventional reading/writing device
As shown in FIG.
Data is read in the center of S. The reason why the widths of the write head jlH and the read head RH are different in this way is to ensure the level at which the read head RH reads data from the magnetic stripe MS.

Note that w (w) is the cover of the write head W) I, and rc is the cover of the read head R11.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the above-mentioned reading/writing device, since the writing head -■ and the reading head R11 have different widths, xxxxxxxxxxxxxx counterfeit magnetic cards are produced.

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XXXXXXX Therefore, there has been a need for a reading/writing device that effectively prevents the use of counterfeit magnetic cards in this manner.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks.
An object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic card duplication prevention method that prevents the use of counterfeit magnetic cards.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, a magnetic card copy prevention method according to the present invention reads data recorded on a magnetic stripe of a magnetic card using a reading head, and writes predetermined data on the magnetic stripe of the magnetic card. In an apparatus capable of writing with a writing head, a plurality of the reading heads are provided, and each reading head is arranged at a position shifted in the width direction of the magnetic stripe at a position where it can read a different area within the width of the magnetic stripe, The present invention is characterized in that it includes a switching means for selecting and outputting one of the outputs of each of the reading heads, and a control means for switching and controlling the switching means in a predetermined pattern.

[Effect]

In this magnetic card copy prevention method configured as described above, different areas of the magnetic stripe of a magnetic card are read by a plurality of reading heads, and one of these read data is sent to a predetermined switching point from a control device. It is taken out by switching with a switching means that switches according to a pattern. Therefore, if the width of the magnetic stripe is approximately 1/2 to 174 mm as in a counterfeit card, all data cannot be read from the magnetic stripe, so the use of a counterfeit magnetic card can be prevented.

〔Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a vending machine to which an embodiment of the magnetic card duplication prevention method according to the present invention is applied.

In Fig. 1, the vending machine a1 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and the front panel part 2 of this rectangular parallelepiped is provided with Schiller case parts 3a, 3b, 3c, and 3d for displaying product samples, and a display lamp is built in the lower part. Product selection buttons 4a, 4b,
4c and 4d are provided, and a bill insertion slot 5 and a coin insertion slot 6 are provided.
A change tray 7 is provided at the bottom of the change tray, a product outlet 8 is provided, and a card insertion port 10 into which a magnetic card 9 is inserted is provided. Also, vending machines
The system is provided with an acoustic notification Ill for notifying the user that the card has been forgotten or other problems, a cancel lever 12 for canceling the payment, and an unusable indicator light 13.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a magnetic card used in an embodiment of the present invention.

The magnetic card 9 is flexible and made of thin plastic, paper, or the like. As shown in FIG. 2 (1), the surface of the magnetic card 9 is provided with an area 14 for punch-displaying the payment amount and payment status, as well as other necessary information (sales amount, issue sound). name, etc.) are printed.

As shown in FIG. 2(I), an area 15 is provided on the surface of the magnetic card 9 to indicate that the card is unusable. Further, the back side of the magnetic card 9 has a second
As shown in the figure ([), a magnetic stripe 16 as a magnetic recording medium is provided. [As shown in Figure 2 (It), the stripe 16 contains the date of issue, issuing company, amount, and other necessary data encoded as data C.
It is recorded as d.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing the internal configuration of the vending machine 1. As shown in FIG.

Inside the automatic vending machine 11, there is a money handling mechanism 18,
A magnetic card reading/writing device 19, a payment processing device 20,
A product ejection mechanism 21 is provided. Further, the money processing mechanism 18 reads the authenticity and value of the money inserted into the bill insertion slot 5 and the coin insertion slot 6. The magnetic card reading/writing device 19 reads data from the magnetic card 9, processes the read data and provides it to the arithmetic processing means 20, receives and receives the written data that has been settled by the arithmetic processing means 20, and writes the data. It controls the writing of written data to the magnetic card 9, temporarily stores the written data, and controls the relative movement between the magnetic card 9 and a head to be described later.

Further, when the writing of data to the magnetic card 9 is completed, the magnetic card reading/writing device 19 reads the data from the magnetic card 9 again and compares it with the written data in the -hour memory, The configuration is such that when a match occurs, the magnetic card 9 is ejected. The settlement processing device 20 processes the value data from the money processing mechanism 18 and the magnetic card reading/writing device 19, and presses the product selection buttons 4a, 4.
It receives the specifications b, 4c, and 4d, and drives the product ejection mechanism 21 based on these specifications. In addition, the payment processing device F
20 lights up the unusable indicator light 13 upon receiving the write error notification from the magnetic card reading/writing device 19;
Further sales operations are prohibited. Note that the money processing mechanism 18 is not directly related to the present invention, so a description thereof will be omitted hereafter.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing the configuration of the magnetic card reading/writing device 19.

A method for preventing duplication of the magnetic card is implemented inside the magnetic card reading/writing device 19 shown in FIG.

The magnetic card reading/writing device 19 is configured as follows. That is, at a position corresponding to the card insertion slot 10, a pair of feed rollers 30 and 31 are provided so as to be rotatable in parallel. A reading head body 32 is provided adjacent to the feed roller 30, 31, and the reading head body 32 reads data such as the amount of money and the issuer from the data magnetic stripe 15 of the magnetic card 9. As shown in FIG. 6, three reading heads RH are integrally constructed so as to be shifted in the short width direction of the magnetic stripe 16 so that different areas of the magnetic stripe 16 can be read. Then, read data is outputted from the three reading heads R1 of the reading head body 32, respectively.

Further, reflective optical reading devices 33, 34, and 35 are provided. These reflective optical readers33.34.3
5 detects the position of the magnetic card 9.

A write head 36 is provided on the right side of the read head body 32 in relation to the magnetic stripe 16 as shown in FIG. This write head 36 has a magnetic stripe 16
This is to write data such as amount. A pressure roller 37 is provided at the upper portion between the read head body 32 and the write head 36. This pressing roller 37 presses the magnetic stripe 16 against the reading head body 32 and the writing head 36 with a predetermined pressure. A further pair of feed rollers 39.40 are rotatably provided in parallel to the pair of feed rollers 30.31.

A punch mechanism 41 is provided on the left side of the feed roller 39, 40 in the drawing. Such punch mechanism 41
has a mechanism that can punch holes in the area 14 of the magnetic card 9 in response to a punch command. Further, a pair of rollers 42 and 43 are provided to be rotatable in parallel, and a card contact detection sensor 44 that also serves as a stopper is provided on the right side of the rollers 42 and 43 in the drawing. The feed roller 30.31, the feed roller 39.40,
The rollers 42 and 43 are connected to a driving step motor 45 via 1I111I (not shown), and rotate according to the rotation of the step motor 45. As the step motor 45 rotates, the rollers 30.31.39.40.42.43 rotate, and between the rollers 30.31 and 39.40,
The magnetic card 9 moves between rollers 42,43.

The optical reading device 33, 34, 35 and the punch mechanism 41
and the card contact detection sensor 44 are electrically connected to the control device 50. The control device 50 is also connected to the write head 36 via a write driver 47 . Furthermore, the @control device 50 is connected to a waveform shaping circuit 48 . The waveform shaping circuit 48 includes the read head body 3
The output terminal of a switching circuit 49 that selects and outputs one of the data from the two reading heads R)I is connected thereto. The switching circuit 49 is connected to the control device 250, and switching is controlled by a predetermined pattern of switching commands from the l11rtj device 5o. Three reading heads RH of the reading head body 32 are connected to the switching circuit 49 . Further, the control device 50 is configured to control the rotation of the step motor 45 via the motor controller 46.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing the control device 50. As shown in FIG.

The control device 50 includes an F2F decoder 52, an F2F encoder 53, an input/output section 54, and a controller 55. The controller 55 is the CPU 5
6, IiO 57, RA 58, interface 59
, and an external interface 60.

Although not shown, the CPU 56 of the control device 50 is equipped with a timer. The ROM 57 also contains the control device I! A program to realize 50 is stored,
A program for creating switching patterns is also stored.

The waveform shaping circuit 48 is connected to the F2F encoder 53 of the control device 50. The driver 47 is connected to the control device 50
is connected to the F2F decoder 52 of. Other devices (3
3, 34, 35, 41, 44, 45) is the input/output section 54
It is connected to the. Further, a payment processing circuit 20 is connected to the control device 50 via an external interface 60.

The operation of the embodiment configured in this way will be explained.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart shown to explain the operation of this embodiment. Figures 9 (1), (If) and 10
Figures (1) and (II) show the magnetic stripe 16 in this embodiment.
This is a diagram for explaining the relationship when reading with the three reading heads RH of the reading head body 32, where U is the area read by the upper reading head RH, and m is the area read by the central reading head RH. , d is the area read by the lower reading head RH. 9(1) shows the magnetic stripe 16 of a normal magnetic card 9, and FIG. 10(+) shows the magnetic stripe 22 of a counterfeit magnetic card.

The control word 250 determines whether the magnetic card 9 has been inserted by the sensor 33 (step 100).

When the control device 50 detects insertion of the magnetic card 9 by the sensor 33 (step 100), the control device 50 drives the motor controller 46 to rotate the step motor 45 in the forward direction (step 101), and the control device t50 controls the RO
A switching pattern according to the program of II 57 is formed and applied to the switching circuit 49 (step 102), whereby the switching circuit 49 switches according to the switching pattern. The control word W50 converts one data obtained by switching each data from the three reading heads RH from the reading head body 32 by the switching circuit 49 to the waveform shaping circuit 48,
It is captured via the encoder 53 and temporarily stored in the RAM 58 (step 103).Then, the control word W50 indicates whether the entire valid read range rl has been completed, as shown in (1) of FIGS. 9 and 10. If the process is not completed, return to step 101 to continue the above operation.
If completed, proceed to the next step (step 104)
.

When the control device 50 determines that the entire effective reading range rl of the magnetic stripe 16 has been completed (step 104), the control device 50 determines whether the data stored in the RAM 58 is equivalent to the effective reading range r1 of the magnetic stripe 16. A determination is made (step 105).

Here, the control device 50 selects l? The data stored in AM58 is within the effective reading range r1 of the magnetic stripe 16.
If there is a balance, it is determined whether there is a balance (step 105), and it is determined whether there is a balance (step 106).
The switching circuit 49 switches according to the switching pattern as shown in FIG. 9 (TI), and the switching circuit 49 outputs data as shown in FIG. 9 (TI).

Further, if the data stored in the RAM 5B does not correspond to the effective reading range Hr1 of the magnetic stripe 16 (step 105), the control device 50 lights up the unusable display 13 (step 120). figure(
The switching circuit 49 switches as shown in FIG. 10 (1) using the same pattern as in 1), but since the magnetic stripe 22 of the counterfeit magnetic card is only about 174 in the center, the switching circuit 49 switches as shown in FIG. Data is output as shown in (n), and there is no data for 11 minutes of the effective reading range of the magnetic stripe 16.

Now, the control device 50 determines whether there is any remaining money, and if there is any remaining money (step 10G), the control device 50 processes the data and then transfers it to the settlement processing device 20. Thereby, the payment processing device 20 stores the data in a storage device (not shown) and presses the product selection buttons 4a, 4b, 4c, and 4d.
(step 107), and then,
Sensors 34, 35 stop the step motor 45 when the magnetic card 9 is at a predetermined position.

The payment processing device 20 also uses product selection buttons 4a and 4b.
, 4c, 4d are pressed (step 108),
The payment processing is executed (step 109), and the data after the deduction is transferred to the processing device 50 (step 110).
).

Then, the control device 50 reversely rotates the step motor 45 via the motor controller 46 in order to position the magnetic card 9 at a predetermined position on the card insertion slot 10 side. The controller 50 uses the sensors 33, 34, 35 to stop the step motor 45 when the magnetic card 9 is at a predetermined position.

Next, the operation moves on to write data to the magnetic card 9. That is, the control device 50 rotates the step motor 45 in the forward direction via the motor controller 46, and outputs the subtracted data to the write head 3 via the write driver 47.
6 to rewrite the magnetic card 9 (step 1
11).

When writing is completed, the control device 50 stops the step motor 45. Furthermore, it is determined whether the data written on the magnetic card 9 is correct.

That is, the control device 50 reversely rotates the step motor 45 in order to position the magnetic card 9 at a predetermined position on the side of the card insertion slot 10, and when the magnetic card 9 is positioned at the predetermined position, Step motor 45 is stopped. Next, the control device 50 rotates the step motor 45 in the forward direction. The data on the magnetic card 9 is taken into the control device 50 via the reading head body 32.

This continues until all data has been captured.

When reading of all data is completed, the control device 50
Step motor 45 is stopped. Then, compare the data after subtraction with the data you just read. Here, if the control device ff50 determines that the two are the same, the step motor 45 is rotated in the opposite direction, and an ejection process is executed in which the step motor 45 is rotated in the opposite direction and stopped when the magnetic card 9 protrudes from the card insertion slot IO. (Step 112), and the series of processes ends.

Further, when the control device 50 determines that the two do not match, the control device 50 determines that the magnetic card 9 is not inserted into the card slot 10.
The step motor 45 is rotated in the reverse direction until it reaches a predetermined position on the side. Next, the control device 50 controls the step motor 4
5 is stopped, and the data before subtraction is written assuming that a write error has occurred and the ejection process is performed (step 113).
).

On the other hand, if the data stored in the RAM 58 does not have an effective reading range of 11 minutes for the magnetic stripe 16, the control device W50 disables the data stored in the magnetic stripe 16 (step 104), turns on the unusable indicator 13 (step 120), and then the control device 50
The step motor 45 is rotated in the reverse direction (step 12).
1) The control device 50 determines whether or not the I-ki card 9 has reached the discharge port 10 (step 122); if not, steps 120 to 122 are repeated.

When the control device 50 determines that the limit has been reached (step 122), the control device 50 stops the step motor 45 from rotating in reverse, and turns off the usability indicator 13 after being turned on for a certain period of time (step 123).

As described above, in this embodiment, the three reading heads 118 are provided in the reading head body 32, and each reading head R)I is positioned on the magnetic stripe 16 at a position where it can read different areas within the width of the magnetic stripe 16. A control device that includes a switching circuit 49 that is arranged to be shifted in the width direction and selects and outputs one of the outputs of the reading heads 1711, and that controls switching of the switching circuit 49 in a predetermined pattern. 5
It is characterized by providing 0. Therefore, if the magnetic stripe 1G of the magnetic card 9 does not have a predetermined width, there will be gaps in the data output from the switching circuit 49 and the data will be incomplete, resulting in a counterfeit magnetic card 9.
You will not be able to use it.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the magnetic card duplication prevention method according to the present invention.

The difference between the embodiment shown in FIG. 11 and the above embodiment is that the reading head body 32 of the first embodiment has three reading heads R).
In other embodiments, three reading heads I? )I as a separate read head body 71.
72.73, and there are no other changes in the configuration.

Such an embodiment also provides the same effects as the above embodiment.

Further, in each of the above embodiments, three reading heads R1 are used, but two or more may be used, and depending on the width of the reading head R1, reading may be performed by dividing into a large number of parts. .

Although the above embodiment has been explained by taking the vending machine 1 as an example, the present invention is not limited thereto, and can be applied to other devices that use private cards, such as telephones and ticket vending machines.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention has the effect of preventing the use of counterfeit magnetic cards.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a vending machine to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a magnetic card used in the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the vending machine. Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing the magnetic card reading/writing device, Fig. 5 is a block diagram showing the processing device of the magnetic card reading/writing device, and Fig. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between the reading head body and the magnetic stripe. ,
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the relationship between the write head and the magnetic stripe, FIG. 8 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the same embodiment, and FIGS. 9 and 10 are diagrams showing the relationship between the read pattern and read data. Figure 11 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention; Figure 12 is a diagram showing the relationship between the write head and the read head of a conventional reading/writing device;・Vending machine, 9...Magnetic card, 16...
Magnetic stripe, 19...magnetic card reading/writing device,
32... Reading head body, R) I... Reading head, 4
9... Switching circuit, 50... Control device, 71.72.
73...Reading head body. Patent Applicant Teruji Muha's Attorney Patent Attorney Akimei Satohibi Figure 4 Figure 0 Figure 12 Figure L Peri

Claims (1)

[Claims] A device capable of reading data recorded on a magnetic stripe of a magnetic card with a read head and writing predetermined data on the magnetic stripe of the magnetic card with a write head, wherein a plurality of the above read heads are provided, and each of the above read heads is provided. The reading heads are arranged to be shifted in the width direction of the magnetic stripe at positions where different areas can be read within the width of the magnetic stripe, and a switching means is provided for selecting and outputting one of the outputs of the respective reading heads. 1. A method for preventing duplication of a magnetic card, comprising: a control means for controlling switching of the switching means in a predetermined pattern.