Patent ID: 6729538
Filing Date: 2004-05-04
Classification: G06K

Abstract:
A motorized card reader module comprising:a throat portion for receiving cards; a housing portion for containing a card read head; a shutter arm movable from a closed position to an open position to allow a card to pass from the throat portion to the housing portion; and a sweeping arm movable from one side of the throat portion to an opposite side of the throat portion to detect any non-card obstruction in the throat portion as the sweeping arm traverses a substantially entire width of the throat portion; the sweeping arm including a hook portion having a recessed area for enabling the hook portion to (i) catch a non-card obstruction, (ii) maintain the caught non-card obstruction within the recessed area, and (iii) drag the caught non-card obstruction to a side of the throat portion when the sweeping arm moves from the one side of the throat portion to the other side of the throat portion.