JPH0628527A - Method for printing rewrite card and device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] An object of the present invention is to provide a rewriting card printing method and a printing apparatus thereof, which can prolong the service life of the rewriting card by effectively utilizing the printing area of the rewriting card. And [Structure] A print area for rewriting the card information,
A device for rewriting and printing card information in a print area of a rewrite card having a storage unit for storing card information, wherein the print area is divided into a plurality of areas, and the storage unit stores each of the divided print areas. The usage status information such as the usage area and the number of times of use is stored, and at the time of printing, the usage status information of the card information is read, and based on the information, the divided printing is performed so that the printing processing is equalized for all printing areas. A rewriting card printing method and a printing apparatus for selecting an area and rewriting the card information in the divided printing area.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to, for example, a rewrite card in which information printed once can be erased and new information can be printed on it, and the printing and erasing cycle can be repeated many times. Printing method and printing apparatus therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The printing surface of the above-mentioned rewrite card is formed of, for example, a thermoreversible material so that information can be printed or erased by controlling the heating temperature of a heating means such as a thermal head. Repetitive printing (rewrite printing) can be performed. The durability of print quality due to such printing depends on how many times printing energy (heat energy) is applied to the printing area.

In a conventional rewrite card printing method, for example, when printing characters, the rewrite card is conveyed by a conveying means to a certain printing position, and the rewrite card is line-fed from the position at a certain line pitch to perform rewriting. Since it is printing, the print position is always the same area (same line part),
For this reason, the printing fatigue of the printing area is fast, and the service life of the card is determined by the printing fatigue state although the area corresponding to the line spacing of the character printing is unused as described above.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method for printing a rewrite card and a printing apparatus therefor that can effectively extend the service life of the rewrite card by effectively utilizing the print area of the rewrite card. To aim.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, card information is provided in a print area of a rewrite card provided with a print area for rewriting and printing card information and a storage section for storing card information. Is a device for rewriting printing, the print area is divided into a plurality of areas, and the storage unit stores usage information such as the usage area and the number of times of use of each of the divided printing areas. Reuse card information is read out, the divided print areas are selected based on the read use status information so that the print processing is performed uniformly for all print areas, and the card information is rewritten and printed in the divided print areas. It is a method.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device for rewriting and printing card information in a printing area of a rewriting card, which comprises a printing area for rewriting and printing card information and a storage section for storing card information. There is a transport means for transporting the rewrite card, a reading means for reading the card information in the storage part of the rewrite card, a rewrite printing means for rewriting the card information in the print area of the rewrite card, and a card stored in the rewrite card. Based on the usage information of the information, the divided printing area is selected so that the printing processing is performed uniformly for all printing areas, and the carrying means, the reading means, and the rewriting printing means are controlled so as to execute the rewriting printing. A rewritable card printing apparatus including a control unit.

[0007]

When the card information is printed on the rewritable card, the rewritable card printing method and the printing apparatus according to the present invention provide the usage status information such as the usage area and the number of times of use of the divided printing areas stored in the storage unit of the card. Based on the read status information, the control means selects the divided print areas so that the print processing is uniform for all the print areas, and carries out the rewrite printing. The conveying means, the reading means, and the rewrite printing means. To control.

[0008]

As a result of the above, according to the present invention, for example, even a print area which has been inevitably unused until now, such as a line portion of a print character line, is used, and all print areas are made uniform. Since the rewrite printing control is executed so as to print, the service life of the rewrite card can be extended. As a result, it is possible to reduce the cost by reducing the number of issued cards, and it is possible to reduce the time and effort for exchanging the cards on the card using side and the card issuing side.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0012] The drawings show a boarding card (rewrite card) in station affairs and a printing section of an automatic ticket gate apparatus for ticketing the card as a printing method and a printing apparatus for the rewrite card.

FIG. 1 shows an external view of an automatic ticket gate. This automatic ticket gate is provided with opening / closing doors 12 and 12 at the front and rear positions of the side surface of the ticket gate body 11 for controlling passage through passengers of the ticket gate. A ticket insertion slot 13 and a ticket ejection slot 14 are opened at front and rear positions.

As shown in FIG. 2, inside the ticket gate main body 11, a ticket ticket processing system 15 having a ticket slot 13 and a ticket outlet 14 at both ends is provided. The system 15 commonly handles both normal tickets such as tickets, coupons, commuter tickets, etc. and passenger cards such as money cards and coupons. , An indirect data processing unit B, a front / back inverting device C, a direct data processing unit D, a loop conveyance path E, and a discharging unit F are provided.

The aligning section A shifts the tickets or the passenger cards inserted from the ticket slot 13 to the main frame side by using the eccentric rotation displacing roller 16.

The indirect data processing section B has a face information reading unit B1, a face information writing unit B2, and a face information checking unit B3 arranged in series in this order.

The ticket surface information reading unit B1 reads the magnetic information on the magnetic recording surface of either one of the upper and lower sides of the boarding ticket or the boarding card by a pair of upper and lower reading magnetic heads 17 and 18 for the front and the back.

The ticket surface information writing unit B2 performs writing processing on the upper and lower magnetic recording surfaces of the boarding ticket or the boarding card by a pair of upper and lower writing magnetic heads 19 and 20 for the front and back sides.

The ticket surface information check unit B3 is a pair of upper and lower confirmation magnetic heads 2 for the magnetic information written on the magnetic recording surface of either the top or bottom of the boarding ticket or boarding card.
Check reading with 1 and 22.

By the way, these magnetic heads 17 to 22
Is installed on the front side of the main conveyor belt device 23 that is penetrated from the ticket insertion opening 13 of the ticket gate processing system 15 to the ticket ejection opening 14, and is branched to this rear side,
The main conveyor belt device 2 is again provided in front of the ticket exit 14.
The sub-conveying belt device 24 that joins the 3 is installed in parallel on the lower side.

The sub-conveying belt device 24 is equipped with a front / back reversing device C and a direct data processing unit D, and a main or sub-conveying belt device 23, by means of a first flapper f1 arranged at a branch position on the starting end side. 24, and further, the second device arranged at the intermediate position of the sub-transport belt device 24.
The flapper f2 distributes the data to the front / back reversing device C side and the data processing unit D side directly, and the third flapper f3 arranged at the merging position on the terminal side moves from the sub-conveying belt device 24 to the main conveying belt device 23 side. , And the distribution unit F side.

The front / back reversing device C does not operate the second flapper f2 when the boarding ticket and the boarding card are conveyed face-up, and conveys the face-up face-up directly to the data processing section D in the subsequent stage, and turns the face-up face-up face-down. The second flapper f
2 is distributed to guide the ticket and boarding card to the side of the reversing passage 25 which is substantially perpendicular to the conveying direction, and is then reversed, and then merged with the original sub-conveying belt device 24 side, and directly in the face-up state. It is transported to the data processing section D.

The direct data processing section D includes a punch device 26.
And a thermal printing device, for example, a print head 27 such as a thermal head, which forms a predetermined punched hole in a ticket or a card based on the magnetic information of the indirect data processing unit B described above. And predetermined printing are commonly executed.

In the loop conveying path E, the first flapper f1 described above is used as the loop connection position on the front side, and the third flapper f3 is used.
Is a loop connection position on the rear side, and the rear stage side of the main conveyor belt device 23 and the entire length of the sub conveyor belt device 24 are connected in a loop shape to allow circulation transportation of a ticket or boarding card. .

This circulating transportation is guided to the loop transportation path E when there is an abnormality in the written data of the boarding ticket or the boarding card introduced from the indirect data processing section B in the preceding stage, and it is inverted here to be reversed from the preceding stage. This is because the indirect data is processed again. The release section F controls the release transport belt 28 to release the boarding ticket and the boarding card.

FIG. 3 shows the boarding card 30 described above. A printing area 31 is formed on the front side of the boarding card 30.
The entire back surface is made of a magnetic material so that magnetic recording can be performed. The above-mentioned print area 31 is the three divided print areas 3
1a, 31b, and 31c are set, and these divided print areas 31a, 31b, and 31c are selected and used so that the printing process becomes even. The above-mentioned printing area 31 is formed of, for example, a thermoreversible material in which a resin and an organic low-molecular substance are dissolved in a solvent. As shown in FIG. 4, when it is in a cloudy state at room temperature, when it is heated to a temperature T1. Then, the transparency starts to increase, reaches the maximum transparent state at the temperature T2, and when it is cooled to room temperature, the transparent state is maintained (see the solid line state in the figure). When it is further heated to the temperature T3 or higher, it becomes an intermediate state between the maximum transparent state and the maximum cloudy state, and when it is cooled to room temperature as it is, it returns to the original cloudy state (see the dotted line state in the figure). Therefore, as described above, the temperatures T1, T2, T3 are
Printing and erasing can be performed by controlling the.

FIG. 5 shows a control circuit block diagram of the automatic ticket gate. The CPU 41 has a solenoid driver circuit 43, a motor driver circuit 44, a print head driver circuit 45, a magnetic data read / write unit 46, and a sensor driver circuit via an interface 42. 47 is connected, these circuits are controlled according to the program stored in the ROM 48, and necessary information obtained by the control is stored in the RAM 49 so as to be readable.

The solenoids SOL drive the solenoid driver circuit 43 to distribute the flappers f1, f2, f3, ... Each of the motors M ... Drives the transport system including the transport belt devices 23 and 24 and the width-adjusting roller 16 in the forward and reverse directions. Further, the sensor S is equipped for inserting and releasing the boarding ticket and the boarding card 30, and for detecting other positions.

Next, the print processing operation of the boarding card 30 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Boarding card 30
Is inserted into the ticket slot 13, the sensor S of the section detects the insertion of the boarding card 30 (step n1), the motor M is driven based on the detection, and the main conveyor belt device 23, the sub The conveyor belt device 24 is driven in the take-in direction, and the boarding card 30 is taken inside (step n2).

The bill information reading unit B1 reads the card information (step n3), and determines the number of times of printing n, which is the usage status information in the card information (step n4).

When the above-mentioned number of times of use n is n <10, +1 is added to the number of times of use n to set the printing area to the divided printing area 31a (steps n5 and n6), and the number of times of use n is n = When it is 10, the number of times of use n is incremented by 1, the divided print area 31a is erased, and the print area is set to the divided print area 31b (steps n7, n).
8) When the number of times of use n is 10 <n <20, +1 is added to the number of times of use n to set the print area to the divided printing area 31b (steps n9 and n10), and the number of times of use n
Is n = 20, +1 is added to the number of times of use n,
The divided print area 31b is erased, and the print area is set as the divided print area 31c (steps n11 and n12).
When the number of uses n is 20 <n <30, the number of uses n
Is added to +1 to divide the print area into divided print areas 31c.
(Steps n13, n14), and the number of times of use n is n
When ≦ 30, +1 is added to the number of times of use n to set the print area to the divided print area 31c, and the next card replacement is instructed (steps n15 and n1).
6).

Next, the boarding card 30 writes the above-mentioned predetermined information in the face information writing unit B2, and is checked by the face information checking unit B3, and the flappers f1, f2, f
Under the control of No. 3, after performing a predetermined process in the reversing passage 25 and the punching process 26, when reaching the print head 27 of the thermal printing apparatus, the divided print area 31a set as described above,
Predetermined information is printed on 31b or 31c, and the boarding card 30 is ejected from the ejecting section F to the ticket ejection opening 14 (step n17).

According to this embodiment, the divided printing area 31
Since the rewrite printing control is performed so that the a, 31b, and 31c are printed evenly, the service life of the boarding card 30 can be extended. As a result, printing areas that have been inevitably unused until now, such as the space between printed character lines, are also subject to use, and the service life is extended.Reducing the number of cards issued reduces costs. In addition, it is possible to obtain the effect that the card-using side and the issuing side can reduce the time and effort for exchanging the card.

In the above embodiment, one of the divided print areas 31a, 31b and 31c is continuously printed for the number of times of effective use of printing, and then the divided print area is moved to the next divided print area. Print areas 31a and 31 for each use of
b and 31c may be sequentially moved. Furthermore, although three divided print areas are shown, any number of divided print areas can be set. In addition to the thermal head, the print head is
Various means such as a semiconductor laser can be used, and in addition to magnetic recording, the information storage of the rewritable card may be a storage unit equipped with an IC or a storage unit of a type that transmits and receives by a non-contact antenna. Further, the alignment between the divided print area and the rewrite printing means may be performed on the rewrite card side, or may be performed by the rewrite printing means side or mutual relative movement.

In the correspondence between the structure of the present invention and the structure of the above-described embodiment, the rewrite card of the present invention corresponds to the boarding card 30 of the embodiment.
Corresponding to the main conveyance belt device 23 and the sub-conveyance belt device 24, the reading means corresponds to the bill face information reading portion B1, and the rewrite printing means corresponds to the print head 2 of the thermal printing device.
7, the control means corresponds to the CPU 41, but the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above-described embodiment.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of an automatic ticket gate.

FIG. 2 is an internal configuration diagram of an automatic ticket gate.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a boarding card.

FIG. 4 is a thermoreversible characteristic diagram of a print area.

FIG. 5 is a control circuit block diagram of the automatic ticket gate.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of rewrite printing processing.

[Explanation of symbols]

 23 ... Main conveyor belt device 24 ... Sub conveyor belt device 27 ... Printing head 30 ... Boarding card 31 ... Printing area 31a, 31b, 31c ... Divided printing area 41 ... CPU B1 ... Ticket face information reading section

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Office reference number FI technical display location B41J 21/00 Z 8804-2C 29/36 8804-2C B41M 5/26 B42D 15/10 501 D 9111 -2C H04N 1/23 102 Z 9186-5C

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for rewriting and printing card information in a printing area of a rewriting card, comprising a printing area for rewriting and printing card information and a storage section for storing card information, wherein the printing areas are plural areas. The storage area stores usage information such as the usage area of each of the divided printing areas and the number of times of use, and at the time of printing, the usage information of the card information is read out and printing processing is performed based on the information. A method for printing a rewrite card, in which divided print areas are selected so that all the print areas are uniformly processed, and card information is rewritten in the divided print areas. 2. A device for rewriting and printing card information in a printing area of a rewrite card, which is provided with a printing area for rewriting and printing card information and a storage section for storing card information, and which conveys the rewriting card. Means, reading means for reading the card information in the storage unit of the rewrite card, rewrite printing means for rewriting the card information in the print area of the rewrite card, based on the usage information of the card information stored in the rewrite card, A rewrite card having a control means for controlling the carrying means, the reading means and the rewrite printing means so as to select the divided print areas so that the print processing is performed uniformly for all the print areas and execute the rewrite printing. Printing device.