JPH0533277U - Prepaid card reader / writer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Structure] The contact surface of the magnetic head for reading and writing the prepaid card is arranged downward, and the prepaid card cannot be read or written unless the magnetic information surface (back) faces up. It was made impossible. [Effect] Since the back side of the card must be inserted upward, the back side of the card can be surely confirmed at the time of payment, so that loss due to fraud such as falsification of the card can be prevented.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a reader / writer for a prepaid card in which the back side of the card, which is the magnetic information surface, is inserted with the backside facing upward in order to prevent loss of the prepaid card due to fraud.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 It is known that the reader / writer of the conventional prepaid card cannot read or write the magnetic information unless the magnetic card is inserted with the pattern surface (front) facing upward and the magnetic information surface (back) facing downward.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 Thus, in a prepaid card reader / writer that cannot read or write the magnetic information unless the prepaid card is turned upside down, for example, a thin magnetic film is attached to the back of the prepaid card to falsify the magnetic information. Even if it is done, if the store employee neglects to check the back side of the prepaid card at the time of payment, the prepaid card reader / writer simply decrypts the magnetic information, so such fraud It was difficult to spot. However, it seems that such fraudulent behavior can be prevented if individual store employees are careful, that is, by checking the back side of the prepaid card when making payment with the prepaid card. Is not a realistic solution, as there is no such room when the stores are crowded.

Moreover, the act of the store employee "inspecting" the prepaid card in front of the customer causes an unpleasant feeling to the majority of good customers. In addition, too much attention was paid to the security function of the prepaid card itself, and there was a problem that the issue cost of the prepaid card became high.

The present invention has been developed in view of such circumstances, and a store employee can naturally confirm the back side of a prepaid card when making a payment with the prepaid card, and the customer cannot see it. The object of the present invention is to provide a prepaid card reader / writer which does not give a pleasant feeling and which can relatively reduce the issuing cost of the prepaid card.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is configured so that the magnetic information surface of the prepaid card is inserted upward, and in this case, the contact surface of the head for reading and writing the magnetic information of the prepaid card is arranged downward. It is preferable that the prepaid card is inserted with the magnetic information surface facing upward, and the magnetic information surface is discharged downward when the prepaid card is discharged.

[0007]

[Action]

 According to the above configuration, the prepaid card must be inserted into the reader / writer of the prepaid card with the magnetic information side facing up, so the store employee inevitably checks the back side of the prepaid card. I can do it. Further, as a result, the security function of the prepaid card itself can be simplified, so that the issuing cost can be made relatively low.

[0008]

【Example】

 Here, the reader / writer of the prepaid card of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side view of a first embodiment of a prepaid card reader / writer according to the present invention. In this figure, 2 is a prepaid card (hereinafter referred to as a card), 17 is a reader / writer unit, 9 is a motor for driving a card transport system, 10 is communication with a host computer or a master CPU (not shown), and A controller unit for reading and writing cards.

Since the card 2 conforming to the JIS-I standard is used, the reader / writer unit 17 has a width slightly wider than the short side of the card 2 and a little thicker than the thickness of the card 2, for example, 54. A card carrying path 16 having a width of 5 mm and a thickness of 0.5 mm is formed, and an appropriate number of, for example, three rubber card carrying rollers 7 are provided below the card carrying path 16 and the card carrying path 7 is provided. On the upper side of the transport path 16, the same number of rollers 6 as the transport rollers 7 for pressing the card 2 against the above-described transport rollers 7 are provided. A pulley 7a is provided at one end of the rotary shaft of the transport roller 7, and the drive belt 8 is applied to the pulley 7a and the pulley 9a provided on the rotary shaft of the drive motor 9 to drive the power. Is being communicated.

Further, the reader / writer unit 17 is provided with photosensors 4 and 11 and light emitting elements 5 and 12 used for the photosensors. With this, whether the card 2 is inserted or not and whether the card 2 is inserted or not The card 2 has been over-fed. Further, in the reader / writer unit 17, a read head 13 and a write head 14 used for reading and writing the card 2 are arranged with their contact surfaces facing downward. In this case, the read head 13 and the write head 14 are attached to a bent leaf spring 15 so that the pressing force is evenly applied to the card 2, and both ends of the leaf spring 15 are attached to the reader / writer unit 17. It is configured to be fixed.

The reader / writer main body 1 of the prepaid card thus configured operates as follows. First, the card 2 is inserted into the card insertion slot 3 with its magnetic information side (back side) 2a facing upward. Then, the light from the light emitting element 5 is blocked by the photo sensor 4 by the front end of the card 2, so the controller unit 10 detects that the card 2 is inserted and the drive motor 9 is turned on, and the belt 8 is driven clockwise. As a result, the roller 7 starts rotating and guides the card 2 to the card transport path 16, the data of the card 2 is read by the read head 13, the data is temporarily stored in the controller unit 10, and the card 2 that has finished reading this data is read. The front end of the card reaches the deepest part of the card transport path 16. At this time, the photo sensor 11 blocks the light from the light emitting element 12 by the front end of the card 2, so the controller unit 10 confirms that the card 2 has reached the deepest part of the card transport path 16. Upon detection, the drive motor 9 is turned off.

When the transportation of the card 2 is stopped, the controller unit 10 transfers the previously read data to a host computer or the like (not shown) via the connector 18, and after the data processing is performed on the host side, Data is transferred to the controller unit 10. When the data reception is completed, the controller unit 10 turns on the drive motor 9. However, at this time, contrary to the above, the belt 8 is driven counterclockwise to convey the card 2 from the deepest portion of the card conveying path 16 toward the card insertion slot 3 again, while the write head 14 newly drives. Write data. Then, the card 2 is ejected from the card insertion slot 3, the photo sensor 11 detects that the card 2 is completely ejected from the reader / writer unit 17, and the series of these operations is completed. When the card 2 is inserted into the card insertion slot 3 with the front side facing up, the data cannot be read and an error occurs, so the controller 2 controls the card 2 to insert the card 2 into the card insertion slot 3. More discharged.

Next, as another embodiment of the present invention, a reader / writer for a prepaid card as shown in FIG. 2 will be described. According to this, like the first embodiment, the card 2 is inserted into the card insertion slot 3 with its magnetic information surface (back) 2a facing upward, and after passing through a predetermined process, the pattern surface of the card 2 ( The card is discharged from the card discharge port 27 with the front side facing up. The configuration is basically the same as that of the first embodiment, but is different in the following points. Since the card 2 is configured to be inserted into the card insertion slot 3 with the magnetic information surface (back) 2a of the card 2 facing upward, and discharged from the card discharge slot 27 with the pattern surface (front) facing upward, It is formed in a substantially U shape, and further has a configuration in which a driving motor 21, rollers 22, 23 and a driving belt 24 are added.

The reader / writer main body 20 of the prepaid card configured as described above operates as follows. First, like the first embodiment, the card 2 is inserted into the card insertion slot 3 with its magnetic information surface (back side) 2a facing upward. Then, the photo sensor 25 blocks the light from the light emitting element 26 by the front end portion of the card 2, so that the controller unit 10 detects that the card 2 is inserted and the drive motor 21 turns ON. And the belt 24 is driven clockwise. As a result, the roller 23 starts rotating and guides the card 2 to the card transport path 16. Then, the card 2 carried by these carrying systems is turned upside down at the U-shaped curved portion of the card carrying path 16.

At this time, since the light from the light emitting element 5 is blocked by the photo sensor 4 by the front end of the card 2, the controller unit 10 detects that the card 2 has reached the deepest part of the card transport path 16. As a result, the drive motor 9 is turned on, and the belt 8 is driven counterclockwise. As a result, the roller 7 starts rotating, guides the card 2 to the read head 13, reads the data of the card 2, and temporarily stores this data in the controller unit 10. Then, when the rear end of the card 2 completely passes the photo sensor 4, the drive motor 21 is turned off by the controller unit 10, and the front end of the card 2 which has finished reading the data reaches the vicinity of the card outlet 27. To do. At this time, the photo sensor 11 blocks the light from the light emitting element 12 by the front end of the card 2, so the controller unit 10 detects that the card 2 has reached the vicinity of the card outlet 27. Then, the drive motor 9 is turned off.

When the conveyance of the card 2 is stopped, the controller unit 10 turns on the drive motor 9 after the data processing as described above. However, at this time, contrary to the above, the belt 8 is driven in the clockwise direction to convey the card 2 from the vicinity of the card discharge port 27 again toward the deepest part of the card conveying path 16 while the write head 14 is used. Write new data. When the controller unit 10 detects that the writing of data is completed, it reverses the drive motor 9 to eject the card 2 from the card ejection port 27, and the photo sensor 11 causes the card 2 to be ejected from the reader / writer unit 17. This series of operations ends when it is detected that the gas has been completely discharged. As in the first embodiment, when the card 2 is inserted into the card insertion slot 3 with the front side facing upward, as a matter of course, the data cannot be read and an error occurs, so that the card is controlled by the controller unit 10. 2 is discharged from the card discharge port 27.

Next, the reader / writer of the prepaid card of this embodiment has the following actions and effects. First, according to the first embodiment, since the magnetic information side (back side) of the prepaid card is inserted into the reader / writer with the magnetic information side facing upward, the store employee can inevitably confirm the back side of the prepaid card at the time of payment. It is possible to prevent the loss due to tampering with, and since this operation can be performed naturally, it does not cause any discomfort to the customer. Further, according to the second embodiment, in addition to having the above-described actions and effects, the pattern surface (front) faces upward when the prepaid card is ejected, so that it is more natural than the first embodiment. Can be operated. The reader / writer of the prepaid card of this embodiment is of a so-called stand-alone type, but it is of course possible to use the built-in type built in the terminal device of the POS system, and although not shown, the prepaid card is not shown. It is also possible to provide a printing function to print the balance, expiration date, and other messages on the surface of the. Further, in this embodiment, the prepaid card conforming to the JIS-I standard is used, but the prepaid card of other standard can be used depending on the embodiment.

[0018]

[Effect of the device]

 As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the store employee can inevitably confirm the back side of the prepaid card at the time of payment, and thus it is possible to prevent loss due to tampering with the prepaid card. Moreover, since the above-mentioned confirmation work can be carried out very naturally, the customer is not made uncomfortable and the store image is not damaged. In addition, such a method of inserting the prepaid card on the back side has a deterrent effect on the criminal psychology of a person who intends to engage in a fraudulent act, and thus it is possible to prevent fraud by the prepaid card. It is possible to provide a reader / writer of a prepaid card that has excellent effects such as contributing to stability of order, and as a result, it is possible to keep the cost of issuing the prepaid card low.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a reader / writer for a prepaid card.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a prepaid card reader / writer according to another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 prepaid card 2a magnetic information surface 7 roller 8 drive belt 9 drive motor 10 controller unit 13 readhead 14 writehead 15 leaf spring 16 card transport path 18 connector

Claims (3)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A reader / writer for a prepaid card, wherein the magnetic information surface of the prepaid card is inserted upward. 2. The reader / writer for a prepaid card according to claim 1, wherein a contact surface of a head for reading and writing magnetic information of the prepaid card is arranged downward. 3. The prepaid card reader according to claim 1, wherein the prepaid card is inserted with the magnetic information surface facing upward, and when the prepaid card is discharged, the magnetic information surface is discharged downward. Writer.