JPH07149454A - Magnetic card reader / writer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] An object of the present invention is to provide a means for freely changing the detection position of a magnetic card in a magnetic card reader / writer provided with an optical sensor unit for detecting the position of the magnetic card. A light shielding sheet 27 having a slit 28 for transmitting light emitted from the light emitting element 24 between a light emitting element 24 and a light receiving element 26 for detecting a magnetic card A conveyed on a conveyance path is replaceable. Arranged. [Effect] The slit 28 is provided at an arbitrary position on the light shielding sheet 27.
By providing the change of the system algorithm,
When changing the card size or sharing it with a new model, the detection position of the magnetic card can be freely changed without newly forming the optical sensor units 20 having different slits 28.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic card reader / writer for reading / writing data from / to a magnetic card.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A magnetic card reader / writer reads and writes data by a magnetic head provided on a carrying path while carrying a magnetic card along the carrying path. The position of the magnetic card is detected by an optical sensor unit including a light receiving element. The structure of the optical sensor unit of the conventional magnetic card reader / writer will be described below.

FIG. 7 is an exploded view of an optical sensor unit used in a conventional magnetic card reader / writer. Reference numeral 1 denotes a unit main body, and a transport path 2 for a magnetic card is formed in a groove shape in the center thereof. Reference numeral 3 denotes a first substrate, and four light emitting elements 4 are arranged at a pitch. Reference numeral 5 denotes a second substrate, and a light receiving element 6 is provided at a position facing the light emitting element 4.
Are arranged at a pitch. The first substrate 3 is arranged on the upper part of the unit body 1 and the second substrate 5 is arranged on the lower part of the unit body 1 so as to sandwich the transport path 2 for the magnetic card. Four slits 7 are formed in the unit body 1 so that the light emitted from the light emitting element 4 can enter the light receiving element 6. Therefore, the magnetic card conveyed through the magnetic card conveying path 2 blocks the light passing through the slit 7 to detect the magnetic card.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned configuration, the unit body 1 having different slits 7 is newly added each time when the algorithm of the system is changed, the card size is changed, or when the device is shared with a new model. However, there was a problem that the cost would increase.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic card reader / writer which can easily change the position of the slit at low cost.

[0006]

To this end, according to the present invention, a light shielding sheet having a slit formed between the light emitting element and the light receiving element for transmitting the light emitted from the light emitting element is exchangeably arranged. Is. Further, a deflecting film that allows passage of only one of longitudinal wave and transverse wave is arranged between the light emitting element and the light receiving element.

[0007]

According to the above construction, it is possible to easily cope with a change in system algorithm, a change in card size, etc. simply by replacing the light shielding sheet or the deflecting film.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a perspective view of a magnetic card reader / writer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the same, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of an optical sensor unit portion of the magnetic card reader / writer according to an embodiment of the present invention. . A chassis 12 is erected on both sides inside the box-shaped main body case 11. An optical sensor unit 20 is mounted on the inner surface of one chassis 12, and a guide rail 10 is mounted on the inner surface of the other chassis 12. A frame 13 connects the left and right chassis 12. At the front part of the main body case 11, three pairs of rollers, which are a driving roller 14 and a driven roller 15, are provided.
The magnetic card A inserted from 6 is conveyed in the main body case 11 through the conveyance path between the driving roller 14 and the driven roller 15. In addition, in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, for convenience of drawing,
Only the most upstream drive roller 14 and the driven roller 15 are shown, and two sets of the downstream drive roller 14 and the driven roller 15 are shown.
Is omitted. In FIG. 2, a magnetic head 17 is provided below the center of the main body case 11, and a print head 18 and a DC solenoid 19 for driving the print head 18 are provided downstream of the magnetic head 17. .

Next, the optical sensor unit 20 will be described. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of an optical sensor unit used in a magnetic card reader / writer according to an embodiment of the present invention. Two
Reference numeral 1 denotes a unit main body which is a main body of the optical sensor unit 20, and a conveyance path 22 for the magnetic card A is formed in a groove shape in the center of the unit main body 21. A first substrate 23 having four light emitting elements 24 arranged at a pitch is mounted on the upper part of the unit body 21, and a first substrate 23 having four light receiving elements 26 arranged at a pitch on the lower part thereof. The second substrate 25 is mounted. Therefore, the light emitting element 24 and the light receiving element 26
Are arranged to face each other so as to sandwich the transport path 22 of the magnetic card A. The unit main body 21 is made of a transparent or semitransparent material that can completely transmit light.

Reference numeral 27 denotes a light-shielding sheet, which is the first substrate 2
3 is mounted on the lower surface of the transport path 22 of the magnetic card A between the second substrate 25 (see also FIG. 3). The light shielding sheet 27 is provided with four slits 28 at a pitch for transmitting the light emitted from the light emitting element 24 and making the light incident on the light receiving element 26, which is attached inside the unit main body 21. The first substrate 23, the second substrate 25, and the light shielding sheet 27 are arranged in the unit body 21 in an exchangeable manner. Here, the first light receiving element 26 near the insertion opening 16
When the magnetic card A is shielded from light by the magnetic card A, the drive roller 14 is driven and the magnetic card A is taken into the main body case 11 and conveyed through the conveying path. Further, when the second light receiving element 26 in front of the magnetic head 17 is shielded from light, the magnetic head 17 and the print head 18 perform read / write. In the printing operation, the magnetic card A is once conveyed to a position where the third light receiving element 26 and the fourth light receiving element 26 at the downstream position of the magnetic head 17 shield the light at the same time, and the drive roller 14 is reversely rotated there. The third light receiving element 26 is off
It starts when switching from ON to ON. Then, the current magnetic card A is calculated until there is no print data or the rotation speed of a motor (not shown) for driving the drive roller 14 is calculated.
Until the position of is separated from the print head 18.

Since the magnetic card reader / writer is constructed as described above, when changing the algorithm of the system, changing the card size of the magnetic card, or sharing it with a new model, a predetermined number of light-emitting elements 24 and light-receiving elements 24 are received at a predetermined pitch. First substrate 23 and second substrate 2 on which elements 26 are arranged
5. The light shielding sheet 27 in which a predetermined number of slits 28 are opened at a predetermined pitch may be arranged on the unit main body 21.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of an optical sensor unit used in a magnetic card reader / writer according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the same. The unit body 31 of the optical sensor unit 30 is formed of a transparent or semitransparent material so that light can be completely transmitted therethrough. Second substrate 2
Two types of deflecting films 34 and 35 are attached on a sheet 33 made of a transparent material disposed on the 5 side. That is, in the longitudinal direction of the sheet, a deflection film 35 having a transverse slit and impervious to longitudinal waves is attached to a portion corresponding to a light path between the light emitting element 24 and the light receiving element 26 forming a pair, A deflection film 34 having vertical slits and impervious to transverse waves is attached to the periphery thereof. The sheet 33 and the second substrate 25 are arranged on the unit main body 31 in a replaceable manner. A sheet 32 made of a transparent material that transmits light is provided on the side of the first substrate 23 on which the light emitting element 24 is provided, and a deflection film 35 having a lateral slit is attached to the sheet 32. Has been. The sheet 32 and the first substrate 23 are also arranged in the unit main body 31 in a replaceable manner.

With the above-described structure, the light emitted from the light emitting element 24 is deflected by the deflection film 35 on the sheet 32.
Is passed through the deflecting film 35 on the sheet 33, and the longitudinal wave is cut off.
Transverse wave light is incident on. Therefore, also in the second embodiment, the position of the magnetic card A can be detected as in the first embodiment. The arrangement specifications of the deflecting films 34 and 35 are not limited to those in the present embodiment, and the point is that light should be incident only on the light receiving element 26.

[0014]

As described above, according to the magnetic card reader / writer of the present invention, there is no need to make a new optical sensor unit when changing the algorithm of the system, changing the size of the magnetic card, or sharing it with a new model. The detection position of the magnetic card can be freely changed by exchanging the light shielding sheet or the polarizing film.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a magnetic card reader / writer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an internal side view of a magnetic card reader / writer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of an optical sensor unit portion of a magnetic card reader / writer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of an optical sensor unit portion used in a magnetic card reader / writer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of an optical sensor unit portion used in a magnetic card reader / writer according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of an optical sensor unit portion used in a magnetic card reader / writer according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an exploded view of an optical sensor unit used in a conventional magnetic card reader / writer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 body case 17 magnetic head 18 print head 20,30 optical sensor unit 24 light emitting element 26 light receiving element 27 light shielding sheet 28 slits 34, 35 deflection film

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A main body case in which a conveying path for a magnetic card is formed, a reading section for reading and writing on the magnetic card and a printing section for performing thermal printing, and the conveying path is sandwiched between the main body case and the conveying path. A light-shielding sheet provided with a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element for detecting the magnetic card, and a slit formed between the light-emitting element and the light-receiving element to transmit light emitted from the light-emitting element is replaced. A magnetic card reader / writer characterized by being freely arranged. 2. A main body case in which a transport path for a magnetic card is formed, a reading section for reading and writing on the magnetic card and a printing section for performing thermal printing, and the transport path is sandwiched between the main body case and the transport path. A light-emitting element for detecting the magnetic card and a light-receiving element, and a deflection film for passing only one of longitudinal wave and transverse wave is arranged between the light-emitting element and the light-receiving element. Characteristic magnetic card reader / writer.