JPH0660308A - Magnetic recording method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically select a writing current in accordance with its mag netic material when a magnetic recording medium is inserted into a magnetic recording device. CONSTITUTION:Coercive force identifying information 20 by a barcode, etc., is recorded on a magnetic recording medium 1 beforehand. When data is written, this coercive force identifying information 20 is read and the writing current supplied to a magnetic head 13 is selected at a value appropriate for the coercive force. Thus, the data writing on the magnetic recording medium 1 is carried out under a condition suited to the coercive force of the magnetic material and a sure writing is made possible.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic recording method for writing predetermined data on a magnetic card or other magnetic recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Magnetic recording media are widely used today in, for example, passenger tickets, commuter passes, pre-baid cards and the like. FIG. 2 shows a plan view of a conventional general magnetic recording medium. (A) shows a magnetic recording medium 1 having a structure adopted for an airline ticket, an entrance ticket, etc., where a magnetic stripe 2 to which a magnetic tape or the like is attached is provided. Data necessary for a ticket or an admission ticket is written on the magnetic stripe 2. (B) shows a magnetic recording medium 3 used for a commuter pass or a train ticket. The back surface of this magnetic recording medium 3 is (c)
, A magnetic material is applied over the entire surface, and predetermined data is written here.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a conventional general magnetic recording apparatus. To write data on the magnetic recording medium as described above, an apparatus as shown in the figure is used. In the figure, this device includes a magnetic head 2 arranged to face a magnetic recording medium 1, a constant current power supply 3 and a modulation circuit 4.
Composed of. The constant current power supply 3 applies a constant bias current to the magnetic head 2. The modulation circuit 4 modulates this current and supplies it to the magnetic head 2. As a result, necessary data is written on the magnetic recording medium 1.

[0004]

By the way, ferromagnetic powder such as ferrite is used for the magnetic material for magnetic recording used in the above magnetic recording medium. The data written on the magnetic recording medium is preferably stable against an external magnetic field, and for this reason, magnetic materials having a high coercive force have been developed. That is, a magnetic recording medium using a magnetic material having a low coercive force can write data with a relatively small current, but has a drawback that the data is easily erased by an external magnetic field. On the other hand, a magnetic recording medium using a magnetic material having a high coercive force requires writing with a relatively large current, but has a feature that written data is hard to be erased by an external magnetic field. Therefore, in recent years, a magnetic recording medium using a magnetic material having a high coercive force has been widely used.

Usually, at a check-in gate at an airport or a ticket gate of a railway, a ticket or ticket is magnetically read and data is rewritten at the same time. Therefore, unless the magnetic recording medium used in such a system is made of a magnetic material having a low coercive force or a high coercive force, the content of the rewriting data can be sufficiently compensated. Can not. However, this makes it difficult to achieve the ideal response such that the magnetic recording medium using the low coercive force magnetic material and the magnetic recording medium using the high coercive force magnetic material are mixed and gradually changed to the high coercive force. There was a problem.

Further, in a system in which recording work is manually performed on a magnetic recording medium, a staff member can switch the write current depending on the color of the magnetic stripe, the kind of magnetic material displayed on the medium, and the like. The operating conditions and programs of the magnetic recording device are changed. However, such work is complicated and burdens the staff, so automation is preferable.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and when the magnetic recording medium is inserted into the magnetic recording device, the write current can be automatically selected according to the type of the magnetic material. An object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic recording method.

[0008]

In the magnetic recording method of the present invention, coercive force identification information indicating the coercive force of the magnetic recording magnetic material is recorded on a part of the magnetic recording medium, while the magnetic recording medium is When inserted in a magnetic recording device, the coercive force identification information is read to select the write current supplied to the magnetic head used for writing data on the magnetic recording medium, and then write data. It is a feature.

[0009]

In this method, coercive force identification information such as a bar code is recorded in advance on a part of the magnetic recording medium. When writing data, the coercive force identification information is read and the write current supplied to the magnetic head is selected in accordance with the coercive force. As a result, writing of data to the magnetic recording medium is performed under conditions that match the coercive force of the magnetic material, and reliable writing can be performed.

[0010]

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a magnetic recording apparatus for carrying out the method of the present invention. In the figure, when the present invention is carried out, the magnetic recording medium 1 shown in the figure is provided with a magnetic stripe 2 used for magnetic recording, and coercive force identification information 20 is provided at an appropriate portion thereof. In this example, the coercive force identification information 20 is represented by a bar code or the like. Above the magnetic recording medium 1, a circuit block of the magnetic recording device is shown. This device includes a processor 11 connected to a bus line 10, a bar code reader 12, a RAM (random access memory) 14, a constant current power supply 15, and a modulation circuit 16. The magnetic head 13 is connected to the constant current power supply 15.

The processor 11 is for controlling the magnetic recording apparatus, and here executes the coercive force determination of the magnetic recording medium 1 and the data writing control. The bar code reader 12 is provided to read the coercive force identification information 20 when the magnetic recording medium 1 is conveyed on the conveying path 21. The magnetic head 13 is provided to read predetermined data from the magnetic stripe 2 of the magnetic recording medium 1 and write predetermined data thereto. RAM1
Reference numeral 4 is a memory for storing data to be written in the magnetic stripe 2 of the magnetic recording medium 1. The constant current power supply 15 is a DC power supply for supplying a predetermined bias current to the magnetic head 13. The modulation circuit 16 is a circuit for modulating the output current of the constant current power supply 15 based on the write data 18 and controlling the data write of the magnetic head 13.

The constant-current power supply 15 of this device has a high write current corresponding to, for example, a magnetic material having a high coercive force in advance.
A two-step current of a low write current corresponding to a magnetic material having a low coercive force can be selected by a write current selection signal 17 supplied from the processor 11. The circuit configuration of this type of constant current power supply itself is the same as that well known in the related art, and since the selection operation of the write current can be performed by a simple switch or the like, detailed illustration of its wiring is omitted.

The above device operates as follows. FIG. 4 shows a coercive force identifying operation flowchart of the present invention. First,
When the magnetic recording medium 1 shown in FIG. 1 is conveyed in the direction of the arrow 22 on the conveying path 21 shown in FIG. 1, the bar code reader 12 reads the coercive force identification information 20. This information is recognized by the processor 11, and it is determined whether the magnetic recording medium 1 has a high coercive force or a low coercive force. That is,
In step S1 in FIG. 4, the coercive force identification information 20 is read, and in step S2, it is determined whether the coercive force is high. Then, when it is determined that the high coercive force is obtained, the process proceeds to step S3 and a high write current is selected. The processor 11 shown in FIG. 1 supplies a write current selection signal 17 to the constant current power supply 15 and instructs selection of a high write current for a high coercive force. Constant current power supply 1
5 determines the output current according to this instruction.

After that, data writing is executed in step S5 of FIG. That is, the processor 11 shown in FIG.
Reads out predetermined data from the RAM 14 and supplies it to the modulation circuit 16 as write data 18. The modulation circuit 16 uses the write data 18 to generate the constant current power supply 1
The output current of 5 is modulated. Thereby, the magnetic head 1
3 executes writing of predetermined data to the magnetic recording medium 1 conveyed in the direction of arrow 22 on the conveying path 21. As described above, if the coercive force identification information 20 is read by the bar code reader 12 and the write current is selected before recording on the magnetic recording medium 1 by the magnetic head 13, a high coercive force is applied to the magnetic recording device. Whether the one using the magnetic material or the one using the low coercive force magnetic material is inserted, the optimum write current can be automatically selected to perform the data write operation.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. In the above embodiment, the coercive force identification information is shown by a bar code. However, if an optical character reading device is provided on the magnetic recording device side, for example, the coercive force identification information 23 may be written in actual characters at a predetermined location on the magnetic recording medium 1. FIG. 5 is a plan view of a modified magnetic recording medium for carrying out the method of the present invention. According to this, the machine can automatically read the coercive force identification information, and the attendant can visually recognize it. Further, if the coercive force identification information as described above is provided in the magnetic stripe 2 as an information writing area, it may be mixed therein.

[0016]

The magnetic recording method of the present invention described above is
The coercive force identification information indicating the coercive force of the magnetic material for magnetic recording is recorded on a part of the magnetic recording medium, and when the magnetic recording medium is inserted into the magnetic recording device, the coercive force identification information is read to obtain the data. Since the write current to be supplied to the magnetic head used for writing is selected and then the data writing is executed, the magnetic recording medium using a magnetic material with a high coercive force is also used for the magnetic recording medium using a magnetic material with a low coercive force. Data can also be written on the recording medium by using an optimum write current suitable for the coercive force. Therefore, even when a low coercive force and a high coercive force are used in a mixed manner, it is possible to automatically perform processing such as rewriting of data without any trouble, and it is possible to use a large number of commuter tickets and boarding tickets. In a system that processes various types of magnetic recording media, it is possible to smoothly perform a work of shifting from a low coercive force type to a high coercive force type.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a magnetic recording apparatus for carrying out the method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a conventional general magnetic recording medium.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional general magnetic recording device.

FIG. 4 is a coercive force identification operation flowchart of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a modified magnetic recording medium for carrying out the method of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 magnetic recording medium 2 magnetic stripe 12 bar code reader 13 magnetic head 15 constant current power supply 20 coercive force identification information

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Coercive force identification information indicating the coercive force of the magnetic recording magnetic material is recorded on a part of the magnetic recording medium, and when the magnetic recording medium is inserted into a magnetic recording device, the coercive force is recorded. A magnetic recording method comprising: reading identification information, selecting a write current supplied to a magnetic head used for writing data on the magnetic recording medium, and then performing data writing.