JP3470179B2 - IC card processing device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an IC card processing apparatus for receiving an IC card provided with a memory circuit and the like and performing a reading / writing process on the IC card. About. 2. Description of the Related Art Unlike a magnetic recording card, an IC card electrically stores various kinds of information in a memory IC, and is connected to an external device via a terminal provided on an outer surface. It is formed so that information can be exchanged between it and. FIG. 19 shows an example of an IC card 1. A plurality of external terminals 2, 2,..., 2 are provided at a predetermined position near the front end on one surface 1a side of the resin card 1. Each external terminal is connected to a memory IC or the like built in the vicinity of the terminal. [0004] Unless predetermined information is electrically exchanged via an external terminal, such an IC card cannot know the unique information and the amount information of the card owner. It has the advantage that it is hard to be used illegally and that the contents are not changed by external magnetism, and it has been used instead of a magnetic card. [0005] Such an IC card processing apparatus for reading and writing information from and to an IC card generally does not have an internal draw-in mechanism, and has an IC card inserted into a card insertion slot.
The C card is received until the external terminal portion enters the inside of the device, the contact terminal is brought into contact with the external terminal of the card in the device, and information is transmitted and received through the contact terminal. The IC card that has been read and written is used by being pulled out by hand. However, in such a conventional card processing apparatus, when a defective card cut shorter than a regular card for the purpose of mischief is inserted into a card insertion slot, the defective card cannot be pulled out from the outside. The equipment cannot be used. As a technique for solving this problem, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 63-271677 discloses an IC card 1 received from a card insertion slot 11 as shown in FIG. Opened housing 12
The leading end side of the card that has been received inside and passed above the opening thereof is guided by the inclined guide member 13 so as to be greatly warped upward, and a plurality of cards provided to face the upper portion of the guide member 13 are provided. There has been proposed one in which the external terminal 2 of the card is brought into contact with the contact terminal 14. According to this technique, when a card-like foreign substance 3 shorter than a regular card is inserted from the card insertion slot 11 as shown in FIG.
1 and is discharged downward from the opening along the guide member 13. When a foreign object longer than this is inserted, the card is pushed by the succeeding card and is ejected from the opening when the rear end of the defective card passes through the card insertion slot 11. [0009] However, in the conventional IC card processing apparatus as described above, the card itself is strongly bent between the leading end and the intermediate portion of the IC card so that the outside of the card is bent. Since the terminals are in contact with the contact terminals, a large force is applied to an integrated circuit such as a memory IC buried near the external terminal, which may cause the internal integrated circuit to be defective. To prevent this, for example, if the inclination of the guide member 13 is reduced, the opening for discharging the card-like foreign matter becomes small, and only a very short foreign matter can be discharged. In addition, if the length of the lower side of the guide member 13 is shortened in order to widen the opening while the inclination of the guide member is reduced, the leading end of the regular card inserted slightly downward cannot be received by the guide member, The regular card is ejected from the opening, causing a great deal of damage to the user. As described above, in the conventional card processing device,
It has been extremely difficult to discharge relatively long card-like foreign matters without applying excessive force to the IC card and to reliably guide the regular card to the terminal contact position. An object of the present invention is to provide an IC card processing device that solves this problem. In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an IC card processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a card slot having a horizontally elongated slit-shaped card insertion slot for receiving an IC card; An IC card which is arranged behind the card insertion slot of the slot and is inserted from the card insertion slot.
A substrate having a lower surface facing the upper surface of the card, and a side plate erected on the lower surface of the substrate so that inner wall surfaces thereof face each other at substantially the same interval as the width of the card insertion slot. A frame that forms a card housing portion that is surrounded by the lower surface of the lower surface and the inner wall surfaces of the both side plates and that has an open lower surface side ;
Support the tip of the IC card that enters the housing from below.
Te, a bottom plate portion for guiding to a predetermined position, is supported on the substrate, is inserted to the predetermined position of the card accommodating portion I
A contact terminal for contacting an external terminal of the C card, and a predetermined width protruding from the inner wall surface of one side plate of the frame to the other side plate side
And the bottom from the card slot side along the inner wall surface.
It is formed so as to be continuous to the plate portion, the one side edge of the normal length IC card entering the card insertion opening in the card accommodating portion is supported by the upper surface portion, the tip of the IC card before
And a rail portion for guiding until the serial bottom plate portion, wherein
Card that is shorter than the rail and has the width and thickness of a regular card
When a foreign object enters from the card insertion slot,
One side edge of the do-like foreign material opposite to the rail portion side
Reaches a position below the lower end of the inner wall surface of the other side plate.
Until the edge of the rail
Projecting width of the rail so that it slides down from the upper surface of the rail
And a gap between the upper surface of the rail portion and the substrate was set.
It is characterized by: [0013] With this configuration, in the IC card processing device of the present invention, the IC card of normal length inserted from the card insertion slot has one edge along the insertion direction of the card inserted into one side of the frame. It is supported by the upper surface of the rail provided along the inner wall of the side plate and guided to a predetermined position,
The external terminal is connected to the contact terminal. Further, when a card-like foreign substance shorter than the regular length enters the card accommodating section from the card insertion slot, one edge along the insertion direction of the card-like foreign substance slides down from the upper surface of the rail section by its own weight, and It is discharged from the opening of the storage section. An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 9 show the external appearance and internal structure of an IC card processing device 20 according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, this IC card processing device 20 is a housing 1 of a public telephone which can be used by an IC card.
8 to read and write information on the IC card by accepting the IC card manually inserted by the user to a position where the IC card can be pulled out. The IC card processing device 20 receives an I
A card slot 22 fixed to project from the housing 18 to receive the C card;
2 and a housing 32 fixed to the rear part. The card slot 22 is formed in a substantially box shape having an opening on the back side, and has a shutter accommodating portion 23 bulging forward from the back side and a height forward from the shutter accommodating portion 23 on the front side. Insertion / removal operation section 24
Are provided so as to be continuous laterally, and the front surface 23a of the shutter housing portion 23 and the front surface 24a of the insertion / removal operation portion 24 are provided.
2, a card slot 25 having a horizontally elongated slit shape is formed continuously as shown in FIG. Further, flanges 26, 26 are provided on both sides of the card slot 22, and the flanges 26, 26 are screwed to the inner surface side of the housing 18, so that the entire processing apparatus is mounted on the housing 18. Supported. The shutter accommodating portion 23 of the card slot 22
A shutter member 27 is provided behind the card insertion slot 25 on the side as shown in FIG. Shutter member 27
Are provided with a shutter plate 28 formed so as to be oblong so as to close the card insertion slot 25, a shutter lever 29 extending forward from one end of the shutter plate 28, and projecting laterally from both ends of the shutter plate 28. Shafts 30, 30 and shutter plate 28
And a projection 31 projecting upward from the upper end of the center. The lower part of the tip of the shutter lever 29 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, an inclined portion 29a is provided so as to gradually increase in height toward the card insertion slot 25, and a step portion 29b is provided at the rear of the inclined portion 29a. The shafts 30, 30 of the shutter member 27
Are rotatably supported by bearings 40, 40 of a frame 35 described later, and the upper end of the projection 31 is in contact with the lower surface of a leaf spring 41 attached to the frame 35. The shutter 27 is urged so that the shutter plate 28 and the shutter lever 29 always receive a downward force, that is, a force in a direction to close the card insertion slot 25. When the leading end of the card inserted into the card slot 25 of the card slot 22 comes into contact with the inclined portion 29a of the shutter lever 29, and the shutter lever 29 is pushed upward, the shutter member 27 rotates the shaft 30, Rotating upward with the fulcrum 30 as a fulcrum, the shutter plate 28 is retracted upward, and the card insertion slot 25 is opened. The housing 32 constitutes the main body of the IC card processing device 20, and is formed in a rectangular box shape by the upper cover 33, the frame 35 and the lower cover 53.
The front end portion is inserted and fixed so as to be inscribed in the opening edge on the back side of the card slot 22. The upper cover 33 is formed in a rectangular plate shape.
The upper surface of the frame 35 is fixed so as to close the upper surface. As shown in FIG. 7, a restricting portion 34 is formed on the lower surface of the rear portion to restrict the upward movement of a slide member 49 described later. . The frame 35 includes a substantially rectangular substrate 36 and side plates 3 erected on both sides of the substrate 36 so as to face each other.
7, 38 and a rear plate 39 connecting the rear ends of the side plates 37, 38
As a result, the outer shape as viewed from above is formed in a substantially rectangular shape as shown in FIG. 5, and the shape as viewed from the card slot 22 side is formed as a substantially H shape as shown in FIG. The front end 36a of the substrate 36 extends upward, and bearings 40, 40 for supporting the shafts 30, 30 of the shutter member 27 are protruded from the front surface of the front end 36a. A leaf spring 41 for pressing the projection 31 of the shutter member 27 from above is attached to the upper surface of the front end portion 36a. On the other hand, the lower inner wall surface 37 of the side plates 37, 38
a and 38a are opposed to each other in parallel with a distance equal to the width of the card insertion slot 25 in order to linearly receive the IC card inserted from the card insertion slot and orthogonal to the lower surface 36b of the substrate 36. I have. In the frame 35, an IC card inserted from the card insertion slot 25 enters a card accommodating portion 42 surrounded by a lower surface 36b of a substrate 36 of the frame 35 and lower inner wall surfaces 37a and 38b of side plates 37 and 38. Fixed in position. A terminal plate mounting hole 4 is provided substantially at the center of the substrate 36.
3 are formed through. A terminal plate 44 is fixed to the terminal plate mounting hole 43. On the lower surface side of the terminal plate 44,
Contact terminals 45 for contacting each external terminal of the IC card that has entered the card accommodating portion 42 are provided in two rows of four. Each contact terminal 45 is formed in a substantially V-shape with a conductive member having a spring property (for example, phosphor bronze or the like). One end of the contact terminal 45 is fixed to the terminal plate 44, and the other end is provided on the terminal plate 44. It is supported by the terminal plate 44 so as to be inserted into each terminal hole 44a, and when it is pressed from below, it moves upward while elastically deforming, and opposes the pressing force from below by its elastic return force. On both sides of the terminal plate 44, grooves 46, 4
6 are provided, and spring hooks 47, 47 are provided at the front end of each groove 46. At the rear of the terminal plate 44, there is provided a slide table 48 having a predetermined width formed one step higher than the substrate upper surface 36c. On the slide table 48, a slide member 49 formed in an inverted concave shape is mounted. The slide member 49 is, as shown in FIGS.
A rectangular upper plate 49a having a slightly wider width and this upper plate 4
9a, the card accommodating portion 4 is inserted through the grooves 46, 46 from both sides.
The card holders 49b and 49b extend downward to 2 and are slidably supported in the front-rear direction while the lower surface of the upper plate 49a is in contact with the upper surface of the slide base 48. Spring hooks 50, 50 are provided in the middle of the card receivers 49b, 49b, respectively.
A spring 5 for returning the slide member 49 to a card insertion port side to a predetermined position when the card is pulled out is provided between the spring hooks 47 and 47 in the insides 6 and 46.
1, 51 are hung. A micro switch 52 is attached to the rear of the board 36 as a sensor for detecting that the card has been inserted to the back. Micro switch 52
Is mounted at a position where when the slide member 49 is pushed to the rearmost position, it is pushed on by the rear part of one of the card receivers 49b and turned on. Each of the contact terminals 45 and the microswitch 52 are connected to a control unit (not shown) of the public telephone via a circuit board (not shown). This control unit determines the insertion and removal of the card from the on / off state of the microswitch 52 in addition to the normal call control,
To read and write information from and to the inserted card via the. On the other hand, a lower cover 5 is provided below the frame 35.
3 is mounted parallel to the substrate 36. As shown in FIG. 9 and FIG.
A thin rectangular plate having substantially the same outer shape as that of the above, and a rail portion 54 extending a predetermined length with a small width along one side edge thereof;
4 has a wide bottom plate 55 extending from the rear to the other side edge.
And a notched shape except for One side edge 53a of the lower cover 53 on the side of the rail portion 54 is connected to the lower inner wall 37a of the side plate 37 of the frame 35.
The rear edge 53b of the bottom plate 55 is fixed along the lower inner wall 39a of the rear plate 39 of the frame 35, and the other side edge 53c of the bottom plate 55 is fixed to the side plate 38 of the frame 35. Along the lower inner wall 38a. The rail 5 opposite to the side edge 53a
4 has an inclined surface 54a inclined downward.
Is provided. The bottom plate portion 55 is provided with one side edge portion 53a.
The front edge is angled with respect to the rear edge 53b so that the width decreases uniformly from the front edge to the other side edge 53c, and the front edge has an inclined surface 54 of the rail portion 54.
An inclined surface 55a continuous with a is provided. The upper surface 53d of the lower cover 53 and the substrate 3
6 is larger than the thickness of the IC card. The distance D from the lower surface 36b of the substrate 36 to the upper surface of the rail portion 54 (same as the upper surface 53d of the lower cover 53 in this embodiment) and the width W of the rail portion 54 protruding from the lower inner wall surface 38a of the side plate 38 are: , Rail part 5
When a card-like foreign matter having a length shorter than the length L of 4 and having the width and thickness of a regular card is received from the card insertion slot 25, one edge of the card-like foreign matter is supported on the rail portion 54, The opposite side edge is rotated by the weight of the card-like foreign substance to a position below the lower end of the lower inner wall surface 38a of the side plate 38 so that the one side edge slides down from the upper surface of the rail portion 54. Next, the operation of the card processing device 20 will be described. Regular IC card 1 is in card slot 2
11 is inserted into the card insertion slot 25 of the shutter housing portion 23, the shutter lever 29 is pushed upward, and the shutter plate 28 is retracted upward, as shown in FIG. The card is guided to the card accommodating section 42 side as shown in FIG. At this time, the IC card 1 is supported by the lower edge of the card insertion slot 25 of the card slot 22 and the upper surface of the rail portion 54 of the lower cover 53 as shown in FIG. Go almost horizontally inside. Then, the leading end 1b of the IC card 1 contacts the card receiver 49b of the slide member 49, and slides to a position where the slide member 49 contacts the rear plate 39 of the frame 35 as shown in FIG. Then, the IC card 1
The contact terminals 45 respectively contact the external terminals (not shown), and the microswitch 52 is turned on. At this time, the rear end 1c of the IC card 1
11B passes through the lower end of the shutter lever 29 and engages with the stepped portion 29b of the shutter lever 29 lowered by the urging force of the leaf spring 41 as shown in FIG. However, the rear part of the IC card 1 is exposed from the insertion / removal operation part 24 of the card slot 22, as shown in FIG. Further, since the returning force of the spring 51 is set to be weaker than the force of the leaf spring 41 on the shutter member 27 side, the card does not return even if the IC card 1 is released in this state. When the ON of the micro switch 52 is detected, the processing of reading and writing information from / to the memory in the IC card 1 is performed through each contact terminal 45. When the use of the telephone call is completed and the IC card exposed in the insertion / removal operation section 24 of the card slot 22 is pulled, the shutter lever 29 moves upward and the return restriction on the IC card 1 is released. , The IC card 1 can be ejected. For example, as shown in FIG. 14, the card-like foreign material 3 shorter than the length of the rail portion 54 of the frame 35 is used.
When the card-like foreign matter 3 is inserted into the card accommodating portion 42 from the card insertion slot 25, as shown in FIG. Is rotated in a direction to lower one side of the card-like foreign matter 3, whereby one edge of the card-like foreign matter 3 slides down on the rail portion 54 and is discharged from the opened lower surface of the card accommodating portion 42. Therefore, there is no hindrance to the next card insertion, and there is no possibility that the use of the device becomes impossible. Further, when a card-like foreign matter shorter than the regular card and having a length of the rail portion 54 or more is inserted, the slide member 49 cannot be pushed all the way to the rearmost part. The rear portion is pushed out by 51 so as to be exposed from the insertion / removal operation section 24. Therefore, the card-like foreign matter can be easily pulled out from the card slot 22, and the next card can be inserted without any trouble. In addition, a legitimate IC card 1 with less warpage
1 is supported by the card insertion slot 25 and the rail portion 54 as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 6 (a), it enters the terminal contact position almost horizontally, but as shown in FIG. 16 (b), when a warped regular IC card 1 'is inserted, it warps downward. I
As shown in FIG. 17, the front edge of the C card 1 ′ has an inclined surface 55 formed on the front edge of the bottom plate 55 of the lower cover 53.
a, it is lifted up in contact with a, rides on the upper surface of the bottom plate portion 55, and can be inserted to the terminal contact position. Also, since the inclined surface 55a is angled so that the contact position with the front edge of the card gradually shifts in the direction of the side plate 38, for example, a card which is greatly warped such that the lower end is located below the bottom plate portion 55. However, the front end portion can be guided on the bottom plate portion 55. Further, even if a foreign substance smaller in external shape than the card-like foreign substance 3 stays in the card slot 22, the foreign substance is discharged from the lower surface of the card accommodating portion 42 when the next card is inserted. As described above, in this IC card processing apparatus, the regular-length card passing over the rail portion 54 is
Guide on 55 and connect external terminal of card to contact terminal
As a result, the external terminal can be securely received up to the position where it comes into contact with the contact terminal without applying excessive external force to the regular card, and the card is prevented from being jammed by a card or other foreign matter. be able to. In the above embodiment, the rail portion is provided on the lower cover separately from the side plate of the frame.
The present invention is not limited to this, and the rail portion may be integrally formed on the side plate of the frame. Further, the rail portion of the above embodiment is provided with an inclined surface so that even if the gap between the upper surface and the lower surface of the substrate is small, the card-like foreign matter can be rotated to slide down from the rail portion. However, when the gap between the upper surface of the rail portion and the lower surface of the substrate can be increased, as shown in FIG.
A rail section 60 having a rectangular cross section may be used. In the above embodiment, the lower surface of the substrate is formed flat, but as shown in FIG.
By providing an escape groove (which may be rectangular or arc-shaped) 62 above the rail portion 61 on the lower surface of 6, the distance between the lower surface 36b of the central portion of the substrate 36 and the upper surface of the rail portion 61 can be reduced. . In the above-described embodiment, the card slot 22 having the card insertion slot and the frame 35 are formed separately. However, both may be integrally formed. Deformation is possible. In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to an IC card processing apparatus for manually inserting and extracting a card, but the card is inserted between a card insertion slot and a card accommodating portion. The present invention is also applied to an IC card processing device which has a mechanism for transporting a card, draws a card inserted from a card insertion slot into a card storage section, and discharges a card after reading and writing processing from the card insertion slot or the card ejection slot. Can be applied. As described above, in the IC card processing apparatus of the present invention, the rail portion is provided only on the inner wall surface of one side plate of the frame constituting the card accommodating portion, and the IC card processing device enters from the card insertion slot. One side of the card of the normal length is supported by the upper surface of the rail portion and guided to a predetermined position, and when a card-like foreign matter shorter than the normal length enters the card accommodating portion, one side of the card-like foreign matter The part is slid down from the upper surface of the rail part by its own weight. For this reason, it is possible to securely receive the terminal contact position without applying a force to bend the external terminal portion of the regular IC card, and to form a large opening in the card accommodating portion. Thus, card-like foreign matter and other foreign matter shorter than the regular card can be discharged from the opening, thereby preventing the card from being clogged.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view of one embodiment. FIG. 3 is a side view of one embodiment. FIG. 4 is a bottom view of one embodiment. FIG. 5 is a plan view of an embodiment with an upper cover removed; FIG. 6 is an enlarged side view of a main part of one embodiment; FIG. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. 7; FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a main part of the embodiment; FIG. FIG. 12 is a schematic side view for explaining the operation of one embodiment. FIG. 13 is a schematic plan view for explaining the operation of one embodiment. FIG. 14 is one embodiment when a card-like foreign matter is inserted. FIG. 15 is a front view of a main part of one embodiment when a card-like foreign matter is inserted. FIG. 16 illustrates an operation of one embodiment depending on the presence or absence of warpage. FIG. 17 is a schematic plan view for explaining the operation of one embodiment depending on the presence or absence of warpage. FIG. 18 is a schematic plan view of another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 19 shows an IC card. FIG. 20 is a schematic side view showing the structure of a conventional device. FIG. 21 is a schematic side view when a card-like foreign material is inserted into the conventional device. [Description of References] 1 IC card 3 card-like foreign material 20 IC card processing device 22 Card slot 25 Card insertion slot 35 Frame 36 Substrates 37, 38 Side plates 37a, 38a Inner wall surface 42 Card accommodating section 45 Contact terminal 53 Lower cover 54 Rail section

Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Ryuichi Saito 1-6, Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (56) References JP-A-7-175898 (JP, A) JP-A-7-175897 (JP, A) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06K 17/00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A horizontally oriented slit for receiving an IC card.
A card slot having a card-like insertion slot, It is arranged behind the card insertion slot of the card slot,
The upper surface and the lower surface of the IC card inserted from the card insertion slot
Opposite sidesA substrate and the card on the lower surface side of the substrate
Pair the inner walls of each other with almost the same interval as the width of the insertion slot.
A side plate erected so as to face the lower surface of the substrate.
And the lower surface surrounded by the inner wall surfaces of the both side plates~ sideIs open
A frame for forming a card receiving portion,The card storage unit is formed at the back of the card storage unit.
Support the tip of the IC card entering the
A bottom plate that guides to the fixed position, Supported by the substrate, theSaidPredetermined position
Contact end that contacts the external terminal of the IC card inserted up to
With the child, Inner wall surface of one side plate of the frameTo the other side plate
Protruding a predetermined width, the inner wall surfacealongThe card slot side
From the bottom to the bottom plateFormed and said car
Of the regular length that enters the cardI
CSupport one side of the card on the top, The IC card
Guide until the tip of the bottom reaches the bottom plateRail and
Preparation, A card that is shorter than the rail and has the width and thickness of a regular card
When a card-like foreign matter enters from the card insertion slot,
One edge of the card-like foreign matter opposite to the rail side is
Position lower than the lower end of the inner wall surface of the other side plate by weight
Until it reaches the edge of the rail.
Protrude the rail so that it slides down from the top of the rail.
Set the protrusion width and the gap between the upper surface of the rail and the board
Characterized by IC card processing device.