JPH0786911B2 - IC card reader / writer - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Industrial applications]

The present invention relates to a device for reading and writing to an IC card.

[Prior art]

Conventionally, reading / writing of necessary data is performed using an IC card with an embedded IC chip.
As one of the writing devices, the one shown in FIG. 3 and FIGS. 4 (A) to 4 (C) is well known. FIG. 3 is a plan view of a conventional device, and FIGS. 4 (A) to 4 (C) are side cross-sectional views showing a card taking-in operation. The operation will be described. A flat box-shaped base 1 is provided with a slit-shaped card insertion opening 2 which is an insertion opening for an IC card 14 at a lower portion of a front side wall 1a of the base 1. Inside 1, there is formed a card transport path 3 which is a path through which the IC card 14 is transferred in a state of sliding contact with both sides of the lower surface of the IC card 14 inserted through the card insertion slot 2. Further, an IC card, which is composed of a motor 4 and a roller 5 which is rotationally driven by the motor 4, near the card insertion slot 2 in the base 1.
14 transfer means 6 are provided. Furthermore, one end is the base 1
Two guide shafts 7 fixed to a predetermined portion of the rear side wall 1b and extending at a predetermined angle with respect to the card transport path 3 are provided as tilt members.
A slidable contact head 8 having a guide shaft is provided. At the rear end of the contact head 8, the card transport path 3
A projecting portion 8a is formed so as to come into contact with, and a contact pin 9 as a conductive contact means for making a conductive contact with the reading and writing terminal 15 of the IC card 14 is provided so as to be vertically movable, The contact pin 9 is pushed down by the urging force of the spring 10. Further, the contact head 8 is positioned in a pressed state by a biasing force of the spring 11 at a position (called a home position) where the contact head 8 stops at a stopper 7a provided at the other end of the guide shaft 7. Reference numerals 12 and 13 denote card detectors for detecting the insertion and ejection states of the IC card 14, which are arranged at predetermined portions on the front surface side and the rear surface side of the base 1, respectively. Next, the operation of the conventional device configured as described above will be described. As shown in FIG. 4 (A), when the IC card 14 is inserted into the card insertion slot 2 with the terminal 15 facing upward, the insertion of the IC card 14 is first detected by the card detection base 12, and the card detector 12 The motor 4 of the transfer means 6 based on the detection signal of
Starts to rotate in the normal direction, and the IC card 14 is pulled into the inside of the base 1 along the card transport path 3 by the rotation of the roller 5. As the card is pulled in, as shown in Fig. 4 (B), the IC
When the tip portion of the card 14 comes into contact with the projecting portion 8a of the contact head 8, the contact head 8 also moves integrally with the IC card 14 toward the rear side wall 1b. At this time, since the contact head 8 moves along the inclined guide shaft 7, the contact head 8 descends. Now, as shown in FIG. 4 (C), when the contact head 8 contacts the inner wall of the rear surface of the base 1 and the tip of the IC card 14 is positioned on the card detector 13, this card detector Completion of insertion of the IC card 14 is detected by 13, and the motor 4 is stopped based on the detection signal from the card detector 13. At this time, the contact pin 9 of the contact head 8 has an appropriate contact pressure of the spring 10.
Conductive contact with the terminals of the IC card 14. When the reading and writing of data from the IC card 14 is completed in this state and a card ejection signal is output from a host device (not shown), the motor 4 of the transfer means 6 reversely rotates and the IC card
The roller 14 is transported backward by the roller 5 toward the card insertion slot 2. At this time, the contact head 8 moves toward the original home position so as to follow the movement of the IC card 14 by the urging force of the spring 11, and the contact pin 9 and
Release the conductive contact with the terminal 15 of the IC card 14. Finally, when the IC card 14 passes through the roller 5 and is in the state before the card is pulled in, when the IC card 14 is pulled out, the card detector 12
Thus, card ejection is detected, and as a result, the motor 4 stops.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional device, the contact head 8 is slidably moved along the guide shaft 7 by the side pressure of the IC card 14, but the guide shaft 7 is inclined. Therefore, the frictional force at the time of sliding between the contact head 8 and the guide shaft 7 becomes large, and the IC card
A large driving torque is used for the motor 4 for transferring 14, therefore, it is necessary to use a large size motor 4,
This has hindered the miniaturization of IC card read / write devices. The present invention has been made to eliminate the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an IC card reading / writing device in which the contact motor is smoothly moved to reduce the size of the drive motor. .

[Means for Solving the Problems]

The present invention is a card detecting means for detecting an IC card inserted in the card insertion slot, and the IC card is pulled into the inside of the device based on a card detection signal from the card detecting means, and the pulled-in IC card is inserted into the card insertion slot. And a transfer means for discharging, and when the IC card is pulled in / discharged by the transfer means,
A contact head that descends / rises along an inclined guide member, and a conductive contact means that is provided on the contact head and that contacts a reading / writing terminal of the IC card when the IC card is pulled into a predetermined position. In an IC card reading / writing device including a contact head, two rollers are provided in a predetermined portion of the contact head in a line direction of the guide member, and the contact head is used as a guide member via the two rollers. It is characterized in that it is adapted to be moved in parallel along.

[Action]

Since the contact head is provided with the rollers as in the above configuration, when the contact head is laterally pressed, the contact head moves along the guide member due to the movement of the roller, so that the contact head and the guide member The frictional force between and is significantly reduced, and the driving motor can be made small with a small torque.

【Example】

Preferred embodiments of an IC card reading / writing device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of an IC card reading / writing apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view of the apparatus shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, one side wall 1c of the base 1 in FIG. 1 is removed and drawn. Further, in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, members having the same functions as those of the conventional apparatus are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted. In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, instead of the guide shaft 7, guide grooves 1c, 1d inclined to both side walls 1c, 1d of the base 1 are provided as guide members. Reference numeral 8'denotes a contact head having a size substantially equal to that between the side walls 1c and 1d, and the guide grooves 21 and 2 are provided at both ends of the contact head 8 '.
Two rotatable rollers 23, 24 and 25, 26 engaging with 2 are provided respectively, and this contact head 8 '
Are movably supported in the guide grooves 21 and 22 via rollers 23 to 26. Further, this contact head 8 ′ has a protruding portion 8 a with which one end of the IC card 14 abuts, like the conventional device.
By the spring 11 stretched over, the stopper 7a is positioned at the home position where it stops at the stopper 7a. Next, the operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, when the IC card 14 is inserted with the terminal 15 facing upward from the card insertion slot 2 to the position where it reaches the roller 5, the insertion of the IC card 14 is detected by the card detector 12, and this card detection is performed. Based on the signal from the container 12, the motor 4 of the transfer means 6 starts forward rotation, and the rotation of the roller 5 draws the IC card 14 into the base 1. When the leading end of the IC card 14 comes into contact with the protruding portion 8a of the contact head 8'as the card is pulled in, thereafter, the IC card 14
The contact head 8'is also moved together with the transfer of the. At this time, the contact head 8 ′ has rollers 23 to 26.
Since it moves along the guide grooves 21 and 22 which are guide members via the contact head 8 ', the contact head 8'is lowered. When the contact head 8'abuts on the inner wall of the rear surface of the base 1 and the tip of the IC card 14 is positioned on the card detector 13, the card detector 13 detects the completion of the insertion of the IC card 14. The motor 4 is stopped based on the detection signal from the card detector 13. At this time, the contact pin 9 which is a conductive contact means provided on the contact head 8'is provided with an appropriate contact pressure of the spring 10 so that the IC card 14
Conductive contact with the terminal of. When the reading and writing of data from the IC card 14 is completed in this state and a card ejection signal is output from a host device (not shown), the motor 4 of the transfer means 6 reversely rotates and the IC card
The roller 14 is transported backward by the roller 5 toward the card insertion slot 2. At this time, the contact head 8'moves to the original home position so as to follow the movement of the IC card 14 by the urging force of the spring 11, and the contact pin 9 '
And release the conductive contact between the IC card 14 and the terminal 15. Finally, when the IC card 14 passes the roller 5 and becomes in the card retracted state, the IC card 14 is pulled out, and the card detector 12
Thus, card ejection is detected and the motor 4 is stopped.

【The invention's effect】

As described above, the present invention can be applied to the contact head.
Since the individual rollers are provided and both rollers are offset so as to match the direction of the guide member, the contact head can be smoothly moved without changing its posture, and is a power source for moving the contact head. The torque of the motor may be small, and as a result, a small motor can be adopted and the size of the device can be reduced. Further, since the powerful motor does not have to be used, the device can be inexpensively constructed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of an IC card reading / writing apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a plan view of a conventional apparatus, and FIG. 4A to 4C are side sectional views showing the operation of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 ... Base, 2 ... Card insertion slot, 3 ... Card transport path, 4 ... Motor, 5 ... Roller, 6 ... Transfer means, 7
...... Guide shaft, 8 '... Contact head, 9 ... Contact pin, 12,13 ... Card detector, 14 ... IC card, 15 ... Terminal, 21,22 ... Guide groove, 23-26 ... … Colo.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A card detecting means for detecting an IC card inserted in a card insertion slot, and the card detecting means based on a card detection signal from the card detecting means.
While pulling in the IC card inside the device, pull in the IC
Transfer means for ejecting the card to the card insertion slot, and when the IC card is pulled in / discharged by the transfer means,
A contact head that descends / rises along an inclined guide member, and a conductive contact means that is provided on the contact head and that contacts a reading / writing terminal of the IC card when the IC card is pulled into a predetermined position. In an IC card reading / writing device including: a contact member, two rollers are provided in a predetermined portion of the contact head in a line direction of the guide member, and the contact head is provided with the guide member via the two rollers. IC card reading characterized by parallel translation along
Writing device.