Card reader having locking mechanism

Abstract: A composite card reader (11) used for IC cards, magnetic cards and the like to which the card is manually inserted and extracted is dislosed. The composite type card reader (11) has a shutter lever (28) for opening and closing a card inlet (13), a locking mechanism for locking the card by closing the shutter lever (28), and a lock releasing mechanism for releasing the lock by opening the shutter lever (28). A shutter closing lever (32) included in the locking mechanism and a shutter opening lever (30) included in the lock releasing mechanism can be alternately engaged with a roller (38) included in a link mechanism (29) coupled to the shutter lever (28). In order to maintain the lock released state by the lock releasing mechanism, a shutter linked lever which is moved in relation to the shutter lever (28) has its position regulated by a slider (19) which slides in response to the insertion of the card (12). A controlling portion including a CPU is provided, which prohibits operation of the locking mechanism when insertion of a magnetic card is detected by a magnetic head (26). The magnetic head (26) is supported by a frame having a projection on one end, which can swing with a contact point between the projection and a support base being a support point of swinging.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a card reader for magnetic and JC type cards. Description of the Background Art A composite type card reader to which IC cards and magnetic cards are both used has been known. Generally, the composite card reader of this type has a slider or carriage in it, which moves forward and rearward in relation to the insertion/extraction of the card. By the sliding operation of this slider, an IC contact bush in the reader is brought into contact with the IC contact point of the card, and a magnetic head is brought into contact with the magnetic stripe, so as to process data. As to the insertion/extraction of the card, when a customer manually inserts the card with the rear end portion of the card held by his hand for card transaction, a locking mechanism operates and locks the card. When the data processing is finished, a lock releasing mechanism operates to release the lock of the card. However, sometimes it happens that the card is erroneously extracted by a customer during processing of the data on the card, since the card locking mechanism is imperfect. Sometimes the card can not be extracted as the automatic locking cannot be released as the friction resistance in the engaging portion of the card reader is increased as the customer keeps holding the rear end of the card. The reading from a magnetic card by a magnetic head can be carried out with smaller errors when reading is carried out during the extracting operation, due to the operational characteristics. Therefore, after the card is inserted, it is necessary to instruct extraction of the card to the customer, to carry out reading during extraction. However, in the above mentioned system in which the inserted card is once automatically locked no matter whether it is an IC card or not, when a magnetic card is inserted, the locking must be released before extraction. Therefore, there is a loss of time generated by the locking and the lock releasing operation which prevents smooth and speedy processing of the card. A lock releasing structure in which the card is pushed outward with force by a spring pressure in the reader when the lock is released, cannot be applied to a card reader in which the data is processed by the magnetic head during extraction of the card. A lock releasing mechanism preventing leaping out of the card may be employed. However, when the extracting operation of the card is delayed, the card is locked again and cannot be extracted. In view of the foregoing, an open state may be maintained or locked by keeping ON a lock releasing solenoid for a long period of time. However, in that case, the solenoid is damaged by heat. EP-A-0 167 356 discloses a reader/writer for an IC card external memory comprising a carriage longitudinally movable in a housing which is normally held in a waiting position in which the carriage is held by spring means and is moved to an operating position by manually inserting the card engaging therewith against the spring force. A block member having contact pins snugly embraced by the carriage and is adapted to move vertically relative to the carriage to said operating position by sliding up an inclined floor so as to establish electrical connection with card contact points. The IC card is held by angularly movable shutter means actuated by a link mechanism to be moved by said carriage. Said shutter means are retracted by disengaging said link mechanism from latching means and concurrently the carriage is returned to the initial position to eject the card out of the housing. However, this opening and closing mechanism including a shutter closing lever and a shutter opening lever does not allow smooth operation. Furthermore, DE-U-88 05 789 discloses a shutter opening/closing mechanism wherein a rotatable roller forms part of the mechanism. However, this roller acts directly on a movable shutter having a slit for inserting a card. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a smooth and stable opening and closing mechanism for the card reader. The object is solved by the features described in claim 1. Particular embodiments of the invention are set out in the dependent claims 2 to 5. According to the invention, during the series of opening and closing operations of the shutter lever, a roller provided in a link mechanism engaging a closing lever and an opening lever facilitates smooth contact, so that stable opening and closing operation is realized. Consequently, during the opening and closing operation of the shutter lever, smooth engaging can be provided by the rolling of the roller, avoiding the friction resistance. Therefore, the driving power of the opening and closing driving means for the engaging and disengaging operation can be set smaller, and accordingly, the apparatus can be made compact and the cost thereof can be reduced. Even if an external force to extract the card is applied, for example by a customer holding the rear end of the card during processing of the data on the card, the friction resistance at the engaging portions is not increased by virtue of the smooth engaging operation of the roller, so that there is no trouble in the lock releasing operation. Therefore, the extraction of the card can be carried out stably regardless of the presence/absence of an external force applied to the card. The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a composite type card reader in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the composite type card reader shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a plan view showing an inner structure of the composite type card reader shown in Fig. 1 in which a card is locked; Fig. 4 illustrates engaging operation of the composite type card reader shown in Fig. 1 when the card lock is leased; Fig. 5 is a side view of main portions of the composite type card reader shown in Fig. 1 in a card locked state; Figs. 6A and 6B are flow charts illustrating an operation of an example of the composite type card reader in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 7 is a schematic block diagram showing electric circuits of the composite type card reader in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention; and Figs. 8A and 8B are timing charts of the electric circuits shown in Fig. 7. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the embodiment, a composite card reader can handle IC cards, magnetic cards and cards having both functions of these cards. One of such cards is manually inserted into the composite card reader and the transaction data on the card are processed therein. Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the above mentioned composite card reader 11 has a card inlet 13 on a front surface through which a card 12 is inserted. A slider 19 sliding forward and rearward (directions shown by the arrows A and B) in response to inserting/extracting of the card 12 is provided in a card path 18 which is surrounded by an upper plate 14, a lower plate 15, a left plate 16 and a right plate 17 defining the card inlet. The above mentioned slider 19 has both sides axially supported by slide axes 20a and 20b to be slidable in the direction of insertion/extraction of the card 12. Normally, the slider 19 is positioned on the side of the card inlet 13 by means of a spring 21 (hereinafter this state is called a standby state). A card receiving member 22 is provided projected to the card path 18 on an end portion on the B side of the slider 19. When a front edge of the card 12 inserted through the card inlet 13 meets with the card receiving member 22, the slider 19 slides to a position of a slider stopper surface 23 in the direction of the arrow B against the biasing force of the spring 21. When the slider 19 moves forward to the stopper position, then a plurality of contact brushes 25 of a tilt lever 24 attached to the slider 19 are brought into contact with a plurality of IC contact points on the IC card. The IC data is processed in this state. A magnetic stripe of a magnetic card inserted to the card path 18 is brought into contact with a magnetic head 26 arranged on an end portion on the A side of the card path 18. Consequently, magnetic data are processed. An arc concave recess 27 is formed on the inlet 13 so as to accept fingers at the time of manual insertion/extraction, and a shutter lever 28 for permitting and forbidding insertion and extraction of the card 12 to the card inlet 13 is arranged on the card inlet 13. When the data of the IC card are being processed, the shutter lever 28 is moved downward (card locked state), so as to prevent unexpected extraction of the IC card. When the data processing is completed, the lever is moved upward (locked released state), so as to permit extraction of the IC card. The opening/closing operations of the shutter lever 28 are carried out in relation to the ON-OFF operation of a lock releasing solenoid 31 through a linking mechanism 29 and a shutter opening lever 30, and to the ON-OFF operation of a locking solenoid 33 through the linking mechanism 29 and a shutter closing lever 32. The shutter lever 28 has a shutter piece 34 bent downward on a tip end portion of the lever. The lever 28 is axially supported at the lower end portion on the B side by a support pin 35 horizontally positioned in the directions shown by the arrows C and D of the upper surface of the upper plate 14. The upper end portion on the B side of the lever 28 is coupled to a first link piece 36 of the linking mechanism. The shutter lever 28 is turned about the support pin 35 by moving forward and rearward the first link piece 36. Consequently, the shutter piece 34 is moved upward and downward. When the shutter piece 34 is moved upward, it opens the card inlet 13. When it is moved downward, it closes the card inlet 13. The above described link 29 is consisted of a first link piece 36 and a second link piece 37 continuously and pivotally attached thereto. An end portion on the A side of the first link piece 36 is pivotally attached to the above described shutter lever 28 and an end portion of the B side is pivotally attached to one end of the rhomboid second link piece 37 arranged approximately orthogonal to the link piece 36. An engaging roller 38 is pivotally attached to the other end of the link piece 37. The second link piece 37 is axially supported by a support pin 39 at the central portion thereof so as to be freely rotatable on the upper plate 14. By turning the second link piece 37 with the support pin 39, the shutter piece 34 of the shutter lever 28 moves upward and downward through the first link piece 36. When the slider 19 is in the standby state, the shutter lever 28 is at an elevated position by the function of a biased spring forcing the shutter lever upward, so that the insertion of the card is permitted. The above described shutter opening lever 30 is arranged longitudinally along the directions of insertion and extraction of the card (directions shown by the arrows A and B), as shown in Fig. 3. The engaging roller 38 of the above mentioned second link piece 37 is freely engaged with and detached from an L-shaped engaging portion 41 formed on the chip end portion of the lever. The lever has its end portion on the B side orthogonally and pivotally attached to a rod 42 of a lock releasing solenoid 31 and its intermediate portion axially supported by a support pin 43, so that it can be tilted with the support pin 43. When the lock releasing solenoid 31 is turned on in the card locked state, then the rod 42 moves in the direction of the arrow C. Accordingly, the shutter opening lever 30 is tilted, and the engaging roller 38 is disengaged from the L-shaped engaging portion 41 as shown in Fig. 4. By the function of the biased spring 40, the second link piece 37 is inclined such that the engaging roller 38 is positioned nearer to the A side than the support pin 39, and the link mechanism 29 is reset to the initial position. Consequently, the shutter lever 28 is moved upward, permitting extraction of the card. The shutter closing lever 32 is arranged longitudinally in the same direction on the upper surface of the above mentioned shutter opening lever 30. The engaging roller 38 of the above mentioned second link piece 37 is freely engaged with an detached from an L-shaped engaging portion 44 formed on the tip end portion of the lever. A piece 45 for engagement projected downward on an end portion on the B side of the lever 32 is connected to a locking solenoid 33 through a lock lever 46 axially supported by a support pin 49. In the lock released state, when the lock solenoid 33 is turned on, then the lock lever 46 and the shutter closing lever 32 are inclined correspondingly, and the engaging portion 44 moves from the position shown by the solid line to a position shown by the two dotted line shown in Fig. 3. Consequently, the second link piece 37 is pressed by the engaging portion 44 and rotated counterclockwise. When the second link piece 37 rotates by a prescribed angle, then the engaging roller 38 is disengaged from the engaging portion 44 as shown in Fig. 3, and it is brought into contact with the engaging portion 41 which is positioned nearer to the A side than the engaging portion 44 at this time. Consequently, the shutter lever 28 is moved downward, locking the inserted card as shown in Fig. 5, thereby preventing extraction of the card. A spring 31a is provided on the lock releasing solenoid 31 for returning the lever 30 to a state before the tilting, when the solenoid is not on. A similar spring 33a is also provided on the locking solenoid 33. A lever slide pin 48 fixed on the lever 30 is adapted to be engaged with a lever slide hole 47 provided on the lever 32, so that the relative positions of the levers 30 and 32 are regulated and the levers are operated approximately parallel to each other. By the above described structure, the engaging roller 38 is switched being in contact with inner surfaces of the L-shaped engaging portions 41 and 44 of the levers 30 and 32. The shutter lever 28 is opened and closed smooth by the rolling of the engaging roller 38. The left side plate 16 is used for detecting insertion of the card as well for defining the card path 18. Namely, the left plate 16 functions as a card insertion detection plate. The card insertion detection plate 16 is pulled to the body frame side (in the direction of the arrow D) by means of two coil springs 52a and 52b suspended between the plate 16 and the upper plate 14 of the body frame, so that the lateral width of the card path 18 is made little narrower than the width of the card. Therefore, when the card is inserted, the card 12 moves the card insertion detecting plate 16 against the coil springs. A detecting switch SW1 having a contact is provided as shown in Fig. 2 so as to detect the start of card insertion by this movement. A detecting lever 50 is provided which is pressed and turned by the card 12 when the slider 19 is slid to a card insertion completed position. The lever 50 has a support point 53 and normally it is biased to a switch SW2 having a contact by the force of a coil spring 54 which is compressed and interpose between the lever and the body frame. The lever 50 is turned by the insertion of the card 12, and it is moved away from the switch SW2. This switch SW2 detects a completion of card insertion. A switch SW3 is a shutter lock detecting switch which detects the locked state of the shutter lever 28 in correspondence with the movement of a projecting piece 51 which is a portion of the second link piece 37 moving in relation to the opening/closing operation of the shutter lever 28. The processing operation of the composite card reader structured as described above will be described in the following. Normally, the card inlet 13 is at the open state permitting insertion of the card, with the shutter lever 28 kept at an elevated state. When a customer inserts the card 12 into the card inlet 13 in this open state, the card insertion detecting switch SW1 detects the card. Then, when the card is pushed inward, the front end of the card 12 is brought into contact with the card receiving member 22 of the slider 19 projecting in the card path 18, so that the slider 19 is moved forward against the force of the spring 21. When the customer pushes the card until the card 12 reaches the slider stopper surface 23 which is the card processing position, then the completion of card insertion is detected by the card insertion completion detecting switch SW2. Accordingly, the locking solenoid 33 is turned on. The rear end surface of the inserted card 12 is engaged with the shutter lever 28 and the card is locked. When this locked state is detected by the shutter lock detection switch SW3, then the contact brushes 25 are brought into contact with the IC contact points on the IC card, so as to carry out reading and writing of the card data. When the data processing of the IC card is completed, then the lock releasing solenoid 31 is turned on. Consequently, the card inlet 13 is opened, permitting extraction of the card. When the extraction of the card is detected by the card insertion detecting switch SW1, the transaction of the IC card is completed. Now, when the card is a magnetic card, then the data on the magnetic stripe are read by a magnetic head 26 during extraction of the magnetic card, after the card insertion completion detecting switch SW2 detects that the card reached the insertion completion position. In that case, the card is extracted with the rear end of the card held by fingers, so that the card can be extracted in a stable manner, enabling highly reliable processing of magnetic data. During opening/closing of the shutter lever 28 for the insertion and extraction of the card 12, the engaging roller 38 is switched being rolling and in contact with the L-shaped engaging portions 41 and 44 of the shutter opening lever 30 and the shutter closing lever 32. Therefore, the shutter lever 28 opens and closes smooth. Even if an external force to extract the card is applied, for example by a customer keeping hold of the rear end of the card 12 during processing of the card data, the engaging roller 38 is smooth rolling and engaging to prevent direct influence of the external force to the inner engaging portions and to properly avoid increase of friction resistance on the portions. Consequently, the extraction of the card can be always carried out stably without generating any trouble in releasing the lock of the card. As described above, smooth engaging operation can be provided by the rolling of the engaging roller avoiding friction resistance during opening/closing of the shutter lever. Therefore, the driving force of the lock releasing solenoid and the lock solenoid for engaging and disengaging operation can be set smaller, thereby reducing the size of the apparatus and reducing the cost thereof. A controlling portion for controlling the above described card reader to carry out card lock only when an IC card is inserted and to enable extraction of the card directly after the insertion when a magnetic card is inserted may be provided to the above described card reader. A card reader having such a control portion will be described in the following. The operation of such card reader will be described at first referring to the flow charts of Figs. 6A and 6B. When a card is inserted, the detecting switch SW1 detects the insertion based on the movement of the card insertion detection plate 16, and at the same time, the magnetic head 26 detects the magnetic stripe. At the time of completion of insertion, whether or not the inserted card has a magnetic stripe, namely, whether the card is a magnetic card or an IC card is determined (steps n1, n2, n3, n4). When it is a magnetic card, the lock solenoid 33 is not operated, and CPU1, which will be described later, immediately instructs extraction of the card by using a display 2. The magnetic head 26 reads the card information during extraction of the card (steps n5, n6). When it is determined in the step n4 that the card is an IC card, then the locked solenoid 33 is operated for locking the card. The lock state is detected by the shutter lock detecting switch SW3, and the reading and writing of the IC card are carried out (steps n7, n8, n9). Thereafter, the card locked state is released by a releasing solenoid 31 and the extraction of the card is instructed by display (steps n10, n11, n12). When the extraction of the card is completed, the detecting switch SW1 is turned off and the process is completed (step n13), no matter whether it is the IC card or the magnetic card. Fig. 7 is an electric circuit of the main portion of the present invention. The switches SW1, SW2 and SW3 are connected to the CPU1 through a PIO (interface) 3, and a driving circuit 4 for the locking and releasing solenoids 33 and 31 is also connected to be controlled by the CPU1. The magnetic head 26 is connected to the CPU1 through an amplifier 5, an FM decoder 6 and an SIO (interface) 7, and an IC contact portion 25 is connected to the CPU1 through PIO 3. The CPU1 drives the display 2 through the PIO 8, and a memory 9 stores necessary data. Fig. 8A is a timing chart of the circuit shown in Fig. 7 when a magnetic card is used. When the insertion of the card is detected by the switch SW1, then the magnetic head 26 carries out detection of magnetism from the magnetic stripe. The magnetic detection signal is applied to the CPU1. When the insertion of the card is completed, the CPU1 prevents operation of the locking solenoid 33 based on the detection of the magnetism, and it immediately instructs extraction of the card by using the display 2. While the customer extracts the card, the magnetic head 26 reads and writes magnetic data. When an IC card is used, magnetism is not detected by the magnetic head 26 as shown in the timing chart of Fig. 8B. Therefore, when the insertion of the card is started and completed, the CPU1 operates the lock solenoid 33 to lock the card, and reading and writing of the IC card are carried out while it is locked. Thereafter, the lock releasing operation is carried out and the extraction of the card is instructed by display. As described above, when a card is inserted, magnetic detection is carried out, and when the magnetic stripe is not detected, it is determined that an IC card is inserted, so that the card is locked. When magnetic stripe is detected, then the card is not locked. Therefore, when the IC card is inserted, reading and writing can be carried out preventing unexpected extraction. When a magnetic card is used, extraction is instructed simultaneously with the completion of insertion, enabling speedy reading and writing. In addition, reading and writing of the magnetic card is carried out during the extracting operation in which there are smaller number of errors, so that the reliability in reading is high. The controlling means for preventing locking of a magnetic card as described above can be applied not only to the card reader shown in Figs. 1 to 5 but also to any card readers having locking mechanism.

Claims: A card reader for magnetic and IC type cards, comprising: a housing (14, 15, 16, 17) having an inlet (13) through which a card (12) is insertable; shutter means (28) for opening or closing said inlet (13) of said housing; a link mechanism (29) coupled to said shutter means (28) and having a rotatable roller (38); a shutter closing lever (32) having a first engaging portion (44); said shutter closing lever (32) being coupled to a first driving means (33) so that upon activation of the first driving means (33) the shutter closing lever (32) is moved; said first engaging portion (44) of the shutter closing lever (32) being arranged to cause the rotatable roller (38) coupled to the link mechanism (29) to move in response to activation of the first driving means (33) thereby acting to close the shutter means (28); and a shutter opening lever (30) having a second engaging portion (41); said shutter opening lever (30) being coupled to a second driving means (31) so that upon activation of the second driving means (31) the shutter opening lever (30) is moved; and said second engaging portion (41) of the shutter opening lever (30) being arranged to cause the rotatable roller (38) coupled to the link mechanism (29) to move in response to activation of the second driving means (31) thereby acting to open the shutter means (28). A card reader according to claim 1, wherein said shutter closing lever (32) and said shutter opening lever (30) are alternately engaged with said roller (38) of said link mechanism (29) by said first and second driving means (33, 31). A card reader according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: a slider (19) provided in said housing (14 to 17), sliding in response to the card (12) inserted through said inlet (13) of said housing; and a contact brush (25) coming into contact with an IC contact point of the card (12) for data processing, after said slider (19) has been moved to a prescribed position. A card reader according to any of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: a magnetic head (26) for reading data of a magnetic card (12). A card reader according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein a concave recess (27) is formed on said inlet (13).

Inventors: ISHII MASAYUKI, SUGINO KIYOTAKA, YUFU TERUYOSHI, ISHII, MASAYUKI, SUGINO, KIYOTAKA, YUFU, TERUYOSHI
Applicants: OMRON TATEISI ELECTRONICS CO, OMRON CORPORATION
Application year: 1989
Main classification: G06K13
IPC codes: G06K7, G06K13