JP2005111869A - Card recording method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A card recording method and apparatus capable of maintaining good printing quality at any environmental temperature and capable of high printing speed.
An environmental temperature sensor is installed in a casing of a card recording apparatus, and a thermal head temperature sensor is installed on a heating element mounting base of a thermal head. When the card 17 is inserted, the heating element of the thermal head 27 starts to be preheated at a predetermined preheating temperature, and when the card 17 can be erased and printed, the heating element of the thermal head 27 is deleted and printed at a predetermined temperature. After the heating is started and the thermal head temperature sensor 35 detects that the temperature reaches the specified temperature, the thermal head 27 erases and prints. After the printing is finished, the heating of the heating element of the thermal head is stopped and the card 17 is removed. It is discharged out of the housing by the transport mechanism.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a card recording method and apparatus for performing printing and erasing on a thermal rewrite card inserted into a card reader / writer or the like, and more particularly to a card recording method and apparatus for controlling the temperature of a thermal head.

  Thermal rewrite cards that can be written and erased are used for customer management, point services, and examination tickets. In this rewritable card, a recording layer in which a resin and crystals are mixed is formed on a transparent film. When heated to a printing temperature (for example, 110 to 120 ° C.) and cooled, crystals in the recording layer become uneven. The light is diffusely reflected and the letters and figures look white. Furthermore, when heated to an erasing temperature (for example, 70 to 100 ° C.), the direction of crystals in the recording layer becomes constant, and a transparent state is established to erase characters and figures.

  FIG. 8 shows a configuration example of a print head and an erasing head in a conventional card reader / writer (hereinafter simply referred to as “card reader”). In this figure, an erasing head 51 and a print head 52 are provided on the path of the card 50, and platens 53 and 54 are provided below the respective heads. The print head 52 is rotatably attached to a first connecting pin 57 provided at the tip of a print head holder 56 having a base end connected to a drive shaft 55, and print pressure is applied by a print head spring 58. Has been granted. An erasing head holder 60 is attached to the front end of the print head 52 by a second connecting pin 59, and the erasing head 51 is held by the erasing head holder 60. Has been granted. At times other than printing and erasing operations, the print head holder 56 is raised, and the erasing head 51 and the print head 52 are in a state of floating from the card 50. The substrate 62 is provided with a lift detection sensor 63 that detects whether or not the erasing head 51 and the print head 52 are at the positions of the platens 53 and 54. As shown in FIG. 9, the print head 52 includes a common electrode 64, a large number of print head heating elements 65, and a print lead electrode 66, and a current flows between a predetermined print lead electrode 66 and the common electrode 64. The corresponding print head heating element 65 is heated to change the crystal orientation of the recording layer of the card for printing.

  As described above, the erasing head 51 and the printing head 52 are driven at the erasing temperature and the printing temperature to erase and print the recording layer of the card. However, since the erasing temperature and the printing temperature are a subtle temperature difference. It is greatly affected by environmental temperature.

  For example, the environmental temperature varies greatly depending on the season, and depending on the store, the cashier is in a place where it hits the sun, near the doorway, and the environmental temperature varies greatly depending on the time. Due to such a temperature change, even if the same energy is given to the erasing head and the printing head, there is no guarantee that the erasing temperature and the printing temperature will be constant, and there is a high possibility of incomplete erasing or incomplete printing.

  In order to solve such a problem, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-238939 (Patent Document 1) provides one temperature sensor in a card reader casing, and an erasing head and a print head according to the temperature in the casing. It is disclosed to control the voltage and the energization time applied to the.

  JP-A-8-39839 (Patent Document 2) is provided with two environmental temperature sensors and a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the heat stamp. It is disclosed that the surface temperature of the erasing unit is estimated based on the temperature control of the erasing unit.

Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-58733 discloses a thermal head heating element resistance value storage means, a thermal head temperature detection means, a voltage value detection means applied to the thermal head, and a recording corresponding to the print density or card type. There is disclosed a card recording apparatus that has means for selecting energy, determines the energization time of the heating element of the thermal head based on information obtained from each means, and controls the recording energy amount.
JP-A-6-238939 JP-A-8-39839 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-58733

  As described above, conventionally, the thermal control is performed on the thermal head in consideration of the influence of the environmental temperature. However, if the erasing head and the print head are independent, the temperature control is relatively easy. It is.

  However, in the case where the erasing heating body and the printing heating body are mounted on one head, or in a recording apparatus that performs erasing by controlling the temperature of the printing head, the temperature control becomes complicated.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a card recording method and apparatus that can maintain good print quality at any environmental temperature and can perform printing at high speed.

  In the card recording method and apparatus of the present invention, the environmental temperature and the temperature of the thermal head are detected, the thermal head is preheated at a predetermined timing, and a predetermined power is supplied to the thermal head according to the temperature difference between the two detected temperatures. Is to supply.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a card recording method and apparatus that can maintain good printing quality at any environmental temperature and can perform printing at high speed.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the environmental temperature and the temperature of the thermal head are detected, the thermal head is preheated at a predetermined timing, and predetermined power is applied to the thermal head according to the temperature difference between the two detected temperatures. Since it is supplied, the printing quality can be maintained well at any environmental temperature, and the printing speed can be increased.

  The invention of claim 1 of the present application is directed to a card recording method in which information is erased and printed on a card by a thermal head while a thermal rewrite card is conveyed by a conveyance mechanism provided in the enclosure. A sensor is installed, a thermal head temperature sensor is installed on the heating element mounting base of the thermal head, a card insertion detection sensor is installed to detect that a card has been inserted into the housing, and the card insertion detection sensor is inserted into the card. When this is detected, the preheating of the thermal head heating element is started at a predetermined preheating temperature, and when the erasing and printing can be performed on the card, the heating of the thermal head heating element is started to the predetermined erasing temperature and printing temperature. After detecting that the thermal head temperature sensor has reached the specified temperature, erase and print with the thermal head. Stop heating to the heating element of the thermal head after the printing is completed, in which the card recording method characterized by discharging outside the housing by a conveying mechanism cards.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the card is inserted into the casing, the card insertion detection sensor operates, the heating element of the thermal head starts preheating, and the heating element of the thermal head is ready for recording on the card. In addition, power is supplied according to the difference between the current environmental temperature and the temperature of the thermal head, the main head is heated, and when the temperature of the thermal head reaches the specified temperature, the card is erased and printed. The effect of the environmental temperature is small, good printing is performed, and the printing speed is increased.

  The invention according to claim 2 of the present application is a card recording apparatus in which information is erased and printed on a card by a thermal head while the thermal rewrite card is conveyed by a conveyance mechanism provided in the casing. A thermal head temperature sensor installed on the heating head mounting base of the thermal head, and a card insertion detection sensor for detecting that a card has been inserted into the housing. Preheating start step of starting preheating of the thermal head heating element at a predetermined preheating temperature upon detection of insertion, and the thermal head heating element at a predetermined erasing temperature when erasing and printing can be performed on the card. The main heating start step that starts heating to the printing temperature and the thermal head temperature sensor reaches the specified temperature. After detecting this, an erasing / printing step for erasing and printing by the thermal head, a heating stop step for stopping the heating of the thermal head to the heating element after printing, and a card ejection for ejecting the card out of the housing by the transport mechanism The card recording apparatus is characterized by comprising control means for executing the steps.

  In the invention of claim 2, when the card is inserted into the housing, the card insertion detection sensor operates, the heating element of the thermal head starts preheating, and the heating element of the thermal head is ready for recording on the card. In addition, power is supplied according to the difference between the current environmental temperature and the temperature of the thermal head, the main head is heated, and when the temperature of the thermal head reaches the specified temperature, the card is erased and printed. Thus, the effect of environmental temperature is small, good printing is performed, and the printing speed is increased.

  In the invention of claim 3 of the present application, in the invention of claim 2, the preheating start step in the control means reads the detection temperature of the environmental temperature sensor at a predetermined time interval after the card insertion detection sensor detects card insertion, The heating start step includes the step of converting the temperature rank into a preset environmental temperature rank and storing it in the storage means. The heating start step reads the temperature detected by the thermal head temperature sensor, and the temperature and the environmental temperature detected by the environmental temperature sensor. And a step of supplying power to the thermal head heating body after correcting the difference with the resistance-temperature characteristics of the thermal head heating body.

  According to the third aspect of the invention, the resistance characteristic of the heating element of the thermal head, which changes in accordance with the environmental temperature, is corrected, and a good print quality can be obtained.

(Embodiment 1)
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a card recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the card recording apparatus 1 includes an upper casing 2 and a lower casing 3, and the upper casing 2 and the lower casing The casing 3 can be freely opened and closed by a hinge portion 4 and can be kept closed by a slider 5 on a side portion.

  A keyboard hole 2a is opened in the upper casing 2, and a display window 2b is opened.

The keyboard hole 2a uses the same panel as the mold of the upper housing 2 by using a plate-like panel 6 for closing the keyboard hole according to the type of the card reader 1 or by attaching a keyboard. can do. In addition, a transparent decorative panel 7 is attached to the display window 2b, and a liquid crystal display panel is arranged from the inside, or a display unit 8 equipped with the illustrated seven segments (for simple message display) and a power lamp is arranged. In other words, it can be applied as a stand-alone card reader 1 and a card reader 1 for a POS system.

  The internal structure of FIG. 1 will be described. An upper housing 10 and a lower housing 11 are provided inside the upper housing 2 and the lower housing 3, and can be opened and closed together with the upper housing 2 and the lower housing 3. A locking claw 12 is provided in front of the upper housing 10 and engages with a lock pin 13 provided on the lower housing 11. The locking claw 12 can be unlocked in conjunction with the slider 5.

  A first control board 14 is attached to the upper housing 10, and a second control board 15 is attached to the lower housing 11. A power supply unit 16 is provided at the bottom of the lower housing 3.

  The card 17 is inserted into the card through the card insertion slot 18, and the both sides are guided into the guide groove 19 and are carried in and out. The card 17 is transported by a card transport mechanism comprising driving rollers 20 and 21 and pressing rollers 22 and 23, and magnetic information is read by the magnetic head 24 when passing between the magnetic head 24 and the magnetic head pressing roller 25, Also recorded. An erasing / printing thermal head 27 driven up and down by a cam 26 is provided behind the magnetic head 24 to erase characters and figures recorded on the card passing between the platen 28 and new characters, Write a figure. The leading end of the card is sandwiched between a driving roller 32 and a pressing roller 33 driven by a driving motor 29, a driven gear 30, and a driving gear 31, and is driven to reciprocate.

  A card insertion detection sensor (not shown) is provided at the card insertion slot 18, and an environmental temperature sensor 34 such as a thermistor is attached to an arbitrary position of the first control board 14. A thermal head temperature sensor 35 is attached to the heating element mounting base of the thermal head 27.

  FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing the configuration of the thermal head 27 according to the present embodiment. The thermal head 27 has a glaze portion 41 raised in a circular arc shape with glass or the like at a cut portion at one end of a plate-like heating element mounting base 40 made of an insulating material such as ceramic. A heating element 42, which is a body, is provided with a predetermined number of dots, and a lead electrode 43 and a common electrode 44 for selectively passing a current are connected thereto. A protective layer 45 is formed on the surface. The lead electrode 43 is driven by a driver IC 47 mounted on the flexible substrate 46, and the current flowing through each heating element 42 is controlled. A flexible flat wire 48 is connected to the terminal of the flexible substrate 46 and is connected to the control output terminal of the first control substrate 14 shown in FIG. In the embodiment of the present invention, the thermal head temperature sensor 35 is fixed to the heating element mounting base 40. Incidentally, the conventional temperature sensor 70 is attached to a place other than the heating element mounting base 40 as shown in FIGS.

  FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state in which the thermal head 27 according to the present embodiment is attached to the thermal head holder 36. As shown in this figure, the base end portion of the thermal head holder 36 is pivotally attached to the upper housing 10 by a shaft 37, and is provided at both ends of an operation shaft 38 that is provided through the distal end portion of the thermal head holder 36. The cam collar 39 is in contact with the cam surface of the cam 26 described above. A holder pressing spring 49 is hung between the shaft 37 and the operation shaft 38 so that the thermal head 27 is pressed against the platen 28 during the printing operation.

  4 and 5 show the operating state of the thermal head 27 during non-printing and printing, respectively. At the time of non-printing, since the large diameter portion of the cam 26 pushes up the cam collar 39 as shown in FIG. 4, the thermal head 27 is at a position separated from the card transport path. At the time of printing, as shown in FIG. 5A, since the cam 26 rotates and the contact portion of the cam collar 39 becomes a small diameter portion, the thermal head 27 is pressed by the holder pressing spring 49, and the platen 28 and the thermal Erasing and printing are performed on the printing surface 17a (see FIG. 5B) of the card 17 carried in between the head 27.

  Next, temperature control and printing operation of the thermal head in the present embodiment will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing temperature control and printing operation of the thermal head in the present embodiment.

  When the card 17 is inserted from the card insertion slot 18, a card insertion sensor (not shown) detects card insertion (step S1). Thereby, a timer for protecting the thermal head is set (step S2), and preheating of the thermal head 27 is started (step S3). This preheating is 40 ° C., for example. Next, the drive rollers 20 and 21 are driven, and the magnetic data recorded in the magnetic recording portion of the card 17 is read by the magnetic head 24 (step S4). Here, it is determined whether or not there is a read error (step S5), and if there is an error, preheating is stopped (step S6). If there is no error, a key input waiting state is set (step S7). Here, when predetermined data is input from the keyboard of the card recording apparatus, the magnetic data is written in the magnetic recording portion of the card 17 (step S8). Here, it is checked whether or not there is a writing error (step S9), and if there is an error, the preheating is stopped (step S10). If there is no error, power necessary for erasing and printing is supplied to the thermal head 27 to start main heating (step S11), and after detecting that the thermal head temperature sensor 35 has reached the set temperature, Erasing / printing is executed by the thermal head 27 while the card 17 is being conveyed by the card conveying mechanism comprising the drive rollers 20, 21 and the pressing rollers 22, 23 (step S12). After erasing and printing, heating to the thermal head 27 is stopped (step S13), and the card 17 is discharged by the card transport mechanism.

  Next, the flow of processing of temperature measurement and printing energy control by the environmental temperature sensor 34 and the thermal head temperature sensor 35 will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing of temperature measurement and printing energy control by the environmental temperature sensor and the thermal head temperature sensor.

  First, the environmental temperature sensor 34 reads the environmental temperature (the temperature around the first control board 14 in this example) at a predetermined time interval (for example, 2 ms) (step S21). The read temperature is converted into an environmental temperature rank and stored in a memory means (not shown) (step S22). Next, the temperature of the heating element mounting base 40 of the thermal head 27 is read by the thermal head temperature sensor 35 (step S23). Here, the difference between the temperature of the thermal head and the environmental temperature is calculated, converted into a thermal head temperature correction rank, and stored in the memory means (step S24).

  Next, the reference energy rank set for each card medium is read from the programmed table (step S25). Next, the resistance rank of the heating element of the thermal head registered in the nonvolatile ROM at the time of manufacture is read from the memory means (step S26). Further, the print density correction rank registered in the nonvolatile ROM at the time of manufacture is read from the memory means (step S27). The thermal head temperature correction rank stored in step S24 is read (step S28).

  The reference rank set for each card medium read in step S25 is corrected in S26 to S28, the final energy rank is calculated, and stored in the memory means (step S29). The thermal head application pulse width table corresponding to the energy rank calculated in step S29 is read from the thermal head application pulse table programmed for each energy rank and stored in the memory means (step S30). From the thermal head application pulse width table stored in step S30, the thermal head application pulse width of the ambient temperature calculated in step S21 is read and stored in the memory means (step S31).

  In this way, the applied energy corresponding to the temperature difference between the environmental temperature and the thermal head is calculated to control the temperature of the thermal head.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used as a card recording method and apparatus for performing printing and erasing on a thermal rewrite card, which can maintain good printing quality at any environmental temperature and can perform printing at high speed. it can.

Sectional drawing of the card recording apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention The enlarged view which shows the structure of the thermal head which concerns on this Embodiment The top view of the state which attached the thermal head which concerns on this Embodiment to the thermal head holder The figure which shows the operation state of the thermal head at the time of non-printing Diagram showing the operating state of the thermal head during printing Flowchart showing temperature control and printing operation of thermal head in this embodiment Flow chart showing the flow of processing of temperature measurement and printing energy control by environmental temperature sensor and thermal head temperature sensor The figure which shows the structural example of the print head in a conventional card reader, and an erasing head Diagram showing a configuration example of the print head

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Card reader 2 Upper housing | casing 2a Keyboard hole 2b Display part window 3 Lower housing | casing 4 Hinge part 5 Slider 6 Plate-shaped panel 7 Cosmetic panel 8 Display unit 10 Upper housing 11 Lower housing 12 Locking claw 13 Lock pin 14 1st Control board 15 second control board 16 power supply unit 17 card 17a printing surface 18 card insertion slot 19 guide groove 20, 21 drive shaft 22, 23 pressure roller 24 magnetic head 25 magnetic head pressure roller 26 cam 27 thermal head 28 platen 29 Drive motor 30 Drive gear 31 Drive gear 32 Drive roller 33 Pressing roller 34 Environmental temperature sensor 35 Thermal head temperature sensor 36 Thermal head holder 37 Axis 38 Operation axis 39 Cam collar 40 Heating element mounting base 41 Glaze part 4 2 Heating element 43 Lead electrode 44 Common electrode 45 Protective layer 46 Flexible substrate 47 Driver IC
48 Flexible flat wire 49 Holder pressing spring

Claims (3)

In a card recording method for erasing and printing information on the card by a thermal head while transporting a thermal rewrite card by a transport mechanism provided in the housing,
An environmental temperature sensor is installed in the housing, a thermal head temperature sensor is installed on the heating element mounting base of the thermal head, a card insertion detection sensor is installed to detect that the card has been inserted into the housing,
When the card insertion detection sensor detects that the card has been inserted, the heating element of the thermal head starts preheating at a predetermined preheating temperature,
When the card can be erased or printed, the heating element of the thermal head starts heating to a predetermined erasing temperature or printing temperature,
After detecting that the thermal head temperature sensor has reached a specified temperature, erase and print with the thermal head,
After printing, stop heating the heating element of the thermal head,
A card recording method, wherein the card is discharged out of the casing by the transport mechanism. In a card recording device that erases and prints information on the card by a thermal head while transporting the thermal rewrite card by a transport mechanism provided in the housing,
An environmental temperature sensor installed in the housing, a thermal head temperature sensor installed on a heating element mounting base of the thermal head, and a card insertion detection sensor for detecting that the card has been inserted into the housing. Prepared,
A preheating start step of starting preheating the heating element of the thermal head at a predetermined preheating temperature when the card insertion detection sensor detects that the card has been inserted;
A main heating start step of starting heating the heating element of the thermal head to a predetermined erasing temperature and printing temperature when the card can be erased and printed;
After detecting that the thermal head temperature sensor has reached a specified temperature, an erasing / printing step for erasing and printing with the thermal head;
A heating stop step for stopping heating of the heating element of the thermal head after printing,
A card recording apparatus comprising: a control unit that executes a card discharging step of discharging the card out of the housing by the transport mechanism. In the preheating start step in the control means, after the card insertion detection sensor detects card insertion, the temperature detected by the environmental temperature sensor is read at a predetermined time interval, converted into a preset environmental temperature rank, and stored in the storage means. Including the step of storing,
In the main heating start step, the temperature detected by the thermal head temperature sensor is read, and the difference between the temperature and the environmental temperature detected by the environmental temperature sensor is corrected by the resistance-temperature characteristic of the thermal head heating body. The card recording apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a step of supplying electric power to the thermal head heating body.

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