JPH067413Y2 - Electronic card collection mechanism - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of use] The present invention relates to an electronic card collecting mechanism provided in a reading / writing device for an electronic card composed of an IC card and collecting the used electronic card.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, a magnetic card has been used as a prepaid card, but recently, since the price of an electronic card generally called an IC card has become considerably low, it is possible to use this electronic card as a prepaid card. It is considered.

[Problems to be solved by the device]

However, what is conventionally known as a read / write device for prepaid cards is that when the card inserted into the card insertion part is read / written and then this card becomes a used card that has finished its usage frequency. Since this card also sends this card to the card holder to receive it, the card may be a cheap one such as a magnetic card, but the electronic card is considerably more expensive than the magnetic card, so use it. If you send out the completed electronic card and return it to the card holder, it will not be profitable from the viewpoint of the price of the card.

Therefore, when the electronic card is used as a prepaid card, it is desired to collect the used electronic card in the reading / writing device. If the used electronic card can be collected, this electronic card The stored information can be rewritten and reused.

However, conventional card read / write devices are designed to send and return this card to the cardholder after reading or writing the inserted card, regardless of whether or not it has reached the end of its usage. Therefore, the used electronic card could not be collected in the reading / writing device.

The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and its purpose is to send out the electronic card and return it to the card holder when the electronic card is not a used card. An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic card collecting mechanism that allows the reading / writing device to collect the electronic card when it is used.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a card carrier which is provided in a card insertion portion of a reading / writing device so as to be movable back and forth, supports an electronic card and is inserted into the reading / writing device, and an electronic card in the reading / writing device. A card carrier feeding mechanism for retracting the card carrier after the reading and writing of the card carrier is completed, and the card carrier is formed with a card mounting portion whose front end side is open in the insertion direction of the card carrier. When a carrier is a used card, which is always located at the open end of the card holder and receives the leading end of the electronic card placed on the card holder and which has been read and written. Provided with a card stopper for releasing the reception of the electronic card, and further facing the card carrier,
There is provided a card retreat blocking member that receives the rear end of the electronic card when the read / write completed electronic card becomes a used card and prevents the electronic card from moving backward together with the card carrier.

[Action]

That is, the electronic card collecting mechanism of the present invention sends the electronic card placed on the card carrier into the reading / writing device by inserting the card carrier, and sends the card carrier after the reading / writing of the electronic card by the reading / writing device is completed. While the card carrier is retracted by the mechanism, when the read / write completed electronic card is not a used card, the electronic card is pushed by a card stopper provided on the card carrier and receiving the tip of the electronic card. When the electronic card is sent out together with the card carrier and the electronic card has been used up, the electronic card is released by the card stopper and the card retreat blocking member provided facing the card carrier. The electronic card is By blocking the backward movement with the rear, the electronic card is made to fall from the backward moving card carrier.The rear end of the electronic card is received by the card backward blocking member and the card carrier is held. If the card carrier is moved backward, only the card carrier moves backward with the electronic card left in the reading / writing device.Therefore, leave the card carrier of the card carrier open at the tip side with respect to the insertion direction of the card carrier. For example, the used electronic card on the card carrier can be dropped from the tip side of the card carrier into the reading / writing device and collected. Therefore, if this electronic card collecting mechanism is provided in the reading / writing device, when the electronic card read / written in the reading / writing device is not a used card, this electronic card is sent out and returned to the card owner, and the electronic card is The electronic card can be collected by the reading / writing device when it is used.

〔Example〕

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

First, the structure of the electronic card collecting mechanism will be described. In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 is an electronic card reading / writing device provided in a telephone, a vending machine for tickets, etc. The card contact member 2 is provided to be movable up and down in correspondence with the card insertion portion. An electronic card (I
C card) a plurality of contact pins 2a contacting each terminal a of A, and positioning holes b provided in electronic card A
There are provided two guide pins 2b which are fitted in to position the electronic card contact position of the contact pin 2a. The electronic card A contains therein an integrated circuit element that constitutes an information processing section and a memory section. The integrated circuit element is connected to a plurality of terminals a provided on the surface of the card. Guide pin 2 of the card contact body 2
Positioning holes b into which b is fitted are provided on both sides of the terminal array portion. Further, this electronic card A has a shape in which a corner portion at one end is cut out in order to give the electronic card A directivity.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a card carrier provided in the card insertion portion of the reading / writing device so as to be movable back and forth. The card carrier 3 is supported by a guide rail (not shown) provided in the reading / writing device. The card carrier 3 includes a planar U-shaped frame portion whose front end side (inside the reading / writing device 1) is open, and a horizontal plate portion integrally formed inside the frame portion. On the upper surface of the card carrier 4, a card mounting portion 4 whose end is open with respect to the insertion direction of the card carrier 3 is recessed. The card mounting portion 4 has a shape corresponding to the outer shape of the electronic card A, and the card mounting portion 4 corresponds to the positioning hole b of the electronic card A and guides the card contact body 2. An escape hole 5 for the pin 2b is formed. Further, a slit 6 is provided at the center of the card mounting portion 4 in the width direction along the forward and backward movement direction of the card carrier 3.

The card carrier 3 is normally moved backward by the card carrier sending mechanism 11 provided in the reading / writing device 1 so that the rear end side of the card carrier 3 projects to the outside of the reading / writing device 1 as shown in FIG. And is manually inserted into the reading / writing device 1 when the electronic card A is inserted into the reading / writing device 1.
The card carrier 3 inserted into the reading / writing device 1 by pressing is inserted into the reading / writing device 1 with a magnetic attraction plate (for example, an iron plate) 7 fixed to one end surface of the frame portion. It is adsorbed by and is held in the inserted state.

Further, the card carrier sending mechanism 11 is connected to a pulley 12 which is positioned above the card carrier insertion position and is pivotally supported in the reading / writing device 1, and one end of which is connected to one side of a frame portion of the card carrier 3 so that the pulley 12 is connected to the pulley. It is composed of a pulling cord 13 wound around 12 and a tension spring (coil spring) 14 that pulls the other end of the pulling cord 13 in the inner and inner direction of the reading / writing device 1. The card carrier 3 is moved backward through the pull line 13. Further, the spring force of the tension spring 14 is set to be smaller than the attraction force of the card carrier attraction electromagnet 10, and the card carrier delivery mechanism 11 shuts off the excitation of the card carrier attraction electromagnet 10 to cause the card carrier 3 to move.
The card carrier 3 is moved backward when the attraction of is released. The retracting limit of the card carrier 3 is restricted by a stopper (not shown).

Further, the card carrier 3 has a card mounting portion 4
A card stopper 8 is provided which is located at the open end of the card and receives the front end of the electronic card A mounted on the card mounting portion 4. The card stopper 8 is made of a magnetic plate (for example, an iron plate), and both ends of a shaft portion 8a provided at the upper end thereof are supported on both sides of the frame portion of the card carrier 3 in the front-back direction (the moving direction of the card carrier 3). Is rotatably provided. Reference numeral 9 is an electromagnet for locking a card stopper, which is fixed to the lower surface of the frame portion of the card carrier 3 and attracts a protruding piece 8b formed at the lower end of one side of the card stopper 8 from the card mounting portion 4 side. The stopper 8 is
Normally, it hangs down from its shaft portion 8a due to its own weight and comes into contact with the open end surface of the card mounting portion 4, and its protruding piece portion 8b is attached to the electromagnet 9a.
And the open end of the card mounting portion 4 is closed.
The card stopper locking electromagnet 9 is normally in an excited state, and when the electronic card A, which has been read / written by the reading / writing device 1, becomes a used card, the excitation is blocked and the card stopper 8 is locked. The card stopper 8 is unlocked and unlocked.
Becomes a state in which the electronic card A can be freely rotated in a direction away from the open end of the card mounting portion 4, and the reception of the electronic card A is released.

Further, 15 is a card carrier 3 in the reading / writing device 1.
Is a card retraction prevention pin provided so as to face the lower surface of the card. When the electronic card A, which has been read / written by the reading / writing device 1, becomes a used card, the card retreat prevention pin 15 projects through the slit 5 of the card carrier 3 and onto the card mounting portion 4. Card rest part 4
It receives the rear end of the electronic card A placed on the card and prevents the electronic card A from moving backward together with the card carrier 3. The card backward blocking pin 15 is normally lowered by the return spring 16. When the electronic card A becomes a used card, the solenoid 17 lifts it up via the link arm 18.

Next, the operation of the electronic card collecting mechanism configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. In addition, here, the collection of the electronic card in the telephone will be described as an example.

The electronic card A is inserted into the card carrier in the sending state by the hand of the card holder as shown in FIG. 3, positioned and mounted on the card mounting portion 4 of the card carrier 3, and then the card carrier 3 is pushed in. It is fed into the read / write device 1 by insertion. This card carrier 3
Is pushed until the tip of the card carrier 3 is received by the electromagnet 10 for adsorbing the card carrier. Further, the pushing of the card carrier 3 is detected by a limit switch (not shown) immediately before the tip of the card carrier 3 is received by the card carrier attracting electromagnet 10. When this limit switch detects the pushing of the card carrier 3, the electromagnet 10 for adsorbing the card carrier is excited, and the magnetic adsorption plate 7 on the tip end surface of the card carrier which is in contact with the electromagnet 10 is adsorbed by the electromagnet 10 and the card carrier 3 is removed. It is held in the inserted state.

When the card carrier 3 is held in the inserted state by the card carrier attracting electromagnet 10 in this manner, the reading / writing device lowers the card contact body 2 as shown in FIG. 4 to bring its contact pin 2a into the terminal of the electronic card A. a is contacted and information is exchanged with the electronic card A in this state to check compatibility and usable frequency of the card, and the information (use frequency) is stored in the memory of the electronic card A according to the call time. Write. Even if the usable frequency of the electronic card A becomes 0 during a call, when the additional fee is charged, the reading / writing device 1 writes the usable frequency according to the amount of the additional fee to the electronic card A. Put in. Then, when the call ends, the reading / writing device 1 raises the card contact body 2 after finishing writing to the electronic card A to separate the card contact body 2 from the electronic card A, and thereafter, the electromagnet 10 for adsorbing the card carrier. Shut off the excitation.
When the excitation of the electromagnet 10 for attracting the card carrier is cut off, the card carrier 3 causes the card carrier sending mechanism 11 to move.
Is automatically moved backwards.

In this case, when the electronic card A that has been read / written by the reading / writing device 1 is not a used card (a card whose usable frequency is 0), the card stopper lock electromagnet 9 remains in the excited state. Thus, the card stopper 8 that receives the tip of the electronic card A is locked. Therefore, the electronic card A is sent out together with the card carrier 3 while being pushed by the card stopper 8 and returned to the card owner.

On the other hand, when the electronic card A that has been read and written by the reading and writing device 1 is used up, the excitation of the card stopper lock electromagnet 9 is interrupted prior to the excitation interruption of the card carrier adsorption electromagnet 10. Along with
The solenoid 17 for raising the card retreat prevention pin 15 is excited. When the excitation of the card stopper lock electromagnet 9 is cut off, the card stopper 8 is free to rotate in the direction away from the open end of the card mounting portion 4, and the electronic card A is released. At this point, the card stopper 8 is in contact with the open end surface of the card mounting portion 4 due to its own weight. When the solenoid 17 is energized, the card retreat prevention pin 15 is raised by the solenoid 17, and the card retreat prevention pin 15 passes through the slit 5 of the card carrier 3 as shown in FIG. It projects above the part 4. Then, when the excitation of the electromagnet 10 for adsorbing the card carrier is cut off after this, when the card carrier 3 is moved backward by the card carrier delivery mechanism 11, the electronic card A on the card carrier 3 has its rear end fixed by the card retraction blocking pin 15. As shown in FIG. 6, only the card carrier 3 moves backward with the electronic card A left in the reading / writing device 1 in order to prevent it from being received and moving backward together with the card carrier 3. The electronic card A on the card carrier 3 is relatively moved as the card carrier 3 moves backward.
Is pushed to the tip side of. In this case, the card mounting portion 4 of the card carrier 3 is open at its tip end side, and the card stopper 8 is in a freely rotatable state. Therefore, the electronic card A pushes the card stopper 8 while pushing it up. It passes below and is extruded to the tip side of the card mounting portion 4.
When the intermediate position in the lengthwise direction of the electronic card A exceeds the leading edge of the card mounting portion 4, the electronic card A falls into the reading / writing device 1 due to its own weight as shown in FIG. It is collected in a collection container. The collected electronic card A is rewritten and used by rewriting the stored information.

When the electronic card A falls from the card carrier 3, the card stopper 8 rotates by its own weight and comes into contact with the open end surface of the card mounting portion 4. Further, the card stopper lock electromagnet 9 is excited again by a signal from a limit switch (not shown) for detecting the card carrier 3 after it has moved backward to its backward limit, and the card stopper 8 is attracted and locked. At the same time, the excitation of the solenoid 17 is cut off, and the card retraction prevention pin 15 is lowered by the spring force of the return spring 16 as shown in FIG.

In this way, the electronic card collecting mechanism sends out the unused electronic card A together with the card carrier 3, and the used electronic card A is prevented from moving backward and only the card carrier 3 is retracted. The reading / writing device 1 is made to drop by being moved. If this electronic card collecting mechanism is provided in the reading / writing device 1, the electronic card A read and written in the reading / writing device 1 will be When it is not a used card, the electronic card A can be sent out and returned to the card owner, and when the electronic card A is used, the electronic card A can be collected by the reading / writing device 1.

In the above embodiment, the card carrier sending mechanism 11
, The card carrier 3 is moved backward through the pulling line 13 by the spring force of the tension spring 14. The card carrier feeding mechanism may be a rack and pinion mechanism or a belt feeding mechanism. The carrier 3 may be automatically inserted by this mechanism. Further, in the above embodiment, when the electronic card A becomes a used card, the card retraction preventing member that receives the rear end of the electronic card A and prevents the electronic card A from moving backward together with the card carrier 3 is used. Although the pin 15 is used, the card retreat blocking member is not limited to the pin and may be a plate-like member, and the card retreat blocking member may be lowered from above the card carrier 3 onto the card mounting portion 4. However, the lifting mechanism is not limited to the above embodiment.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the card stopper 8 located at the open end of the card placing portion 4 of the card carrier 3 and receiving the tip of the electronic card A placed on the card placing portion 4 is a rotatable type. This card stopper is the 9th
As shown in FIG. 10 and FIG. 10, the electronic card A, which is normally projected by the spring force of the return spring 20 so as to close the open end of the card mounting portion 4 and the reading and writing of which has been completed, becomes a used card. The card stopper 19 may be an up-and-down type card stopper 19 that is sometimes pulled in by the solenoid 21 to release the reception of the electronic card A. Further, the card stopper 19 may be provided on the upper side of the card carrier 3.

[Effect of device]

The electronic card collecting mechanism of the present invention sends out unused electronic cards together with the card carrier, and the used electronic cards are read and written by blocking the backward movement of the used electronic card and moving backward only the card carrier. Since it was designed to be dropped into the device,
If this electronic card collection mechanism is provided in the reading / writing device, when the electronic card read / written by the reading / writing device is not a used card, this electronic card is sent out and returned to the card owner so that the electronic card can be used. When it is completed, it can be collected by this electronic card reader / writer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGS. 1 to 8 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a side view of an electronic card collecting mechanism, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a card carrier, and FIG. 3 to 8 are operation explanatory views of the electronic card collecting mechanism. 9 and 10 are side views of an electronic card collecting mechanism in a card non-collecting state and a card collecting state showing another embodiment of the present invention. 1 ... Read / write device, 2 ... Card contactor, 3 ...
Card carrier, 4 ... Card mounting part, 8 ... Card stopper, 9 ... Electromagnet for locking card stopper, 10 ...
… Electromagnet for attracting card carrier, 11 …… Card carrier sending mechanism, 13 …… Pulling wire, 14 …… Tension spring, 15…
… Card retracting prevention pin, 16 …… Return spring, 17 …… Solenoid, 19 …… Card stopper, 20 …… Return spring, 21 …… Solenoid, A …… Electronic card.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A mechanism provided in an electronic card reading / writing device for collecting the used electronic card,
A card carrier that is provided in the card insertion portion of the reading / writing device so as to be movable back and forth and supports the electronic card and is inserted into the reading / writing device; and after the reading / writing of the electronic card in the reading / writing device is completed. A card carrier sending mechanism for retracting the card carrier, and forming a card mounting portion of which the front end side is open in the insertion direction of the card carrier on the card carrier, The electronic card, which is located at the open end of the card placing portion, receives the tip of the electronic card placed on the card placing portion, and has completed reading / writing and becomes an used card. A card stopper that releases the reception of the card is provided, and reading and writing are completed by facing the card carrier. When the electronic card becomes a used card, a card retraction preventing member is provided for receiving the rear end of the electronic card and preventing the electronic card from moving backward together with the card carrier. Electronic card collection mechanism.