Patent Application
20110301750
The invention relates to an apparatus for receiving and dispensing cards, and more particularly relates to a safe and reliable automatic card receiving and dispensing apparatus.
At present, card dispensers on the market have a storehouse for accommodating cards. For example, a card dispenser from Sankyo Company of Japan is provided with a card stack region at the end of the dispenser. When the system has detected card shortage, it is necessary for the staff to go to the spot to supplement cards. Though the structure of such apparatus is simple and reliable and it is convenient for loading cards, it is possible that the cards may be lost or be removed artificially during manually loading, moving and handling the cards. The card dispenser from Omron Corporation of Japan has solved the probable situations described above to a certain degree, wherein, the card dispenser is provided with a card box at the end that may be removed from the card dispenser. The separate card box is utilized for loading cards, which may facilitate management. However, it has a lack of security, because the cards in the card box may be taken out by ones without authority.
The existing card box is generally mounted directly in the card dispenser main body. A card gate of the card outlet of the card box is not under protection. In other words, the card outlet may be opened at any time, such that the cards in the card box may be removed easily. Moreover, there is no correspondence between the card box and the card dispenser main body. The card box may be mounted on different card dispenser main bodies for dispensing cards. This also has disadvantages of lack of supervision and being not to ensure security of the cards.
A card box for loading cards as mentioned in U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,079 is added with a card pressing spring in the interior whereof, so as to ensure that the cards may not turn over due to sloshing of the card box after the card box has been removed from the card dispenser. But the card box does not have any security settings. Although locking means is equipped outside the card box, the card outlet is not under protection, but just a rotatable barrier is provided to close the card outlet. Thus, it is just needed to push the barrier aside gently by hand, then any person that can access to the card box can take out the cards loaded or left in the card box through the card outlet.
Additionally, usually when a user does not take away the card already being dispensed or cards are in an anomalous situation, the card dispenser may automatically withdraw the card and then the card may enter a card receiving box. For the existing card dispenser products, the card receiving box is generally a cavity arranged in the card dispenser for receiving cards, wherein the cards may be removed by specialized staff by hand. Such common method of receiving cards may be referred to a card receiving unit as mentioned in U.S. Pat. No. 6,827,261, which is irregular and unreasonable for financial system requiring high security and strict management. The cards placed in such card receiving unit may be taken out easily by an unspecified staff illegally. Especially in the financial system, cards are equivalent to effective securities, so various aspects associated with the cards must be in strict control.
In a card dispenser as mentioned in U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,867, the cards in the card dispensing box is sealed by means of locks, and the cards may be driven from bottom up to the card dispensing portion by way of a elevator, and then the card may be dispensed by the card dispenser. A disadvantage of this card dispenser is that it is not convenient to handle and manage the cards in the card dispenser. Onsite operation is required during supplementing cards to the card dispenser. Furthermore, it may take a long time to fill the cavity storing cards on the spot. In actual operation, the card dispenser is often arranged in a narrow area. It is unreasonable to working in the area for a long time. Similarly, it is possible for cards to be lost or be removed artificially during manually loading, moving and handling the cards.
An objective of this invention is to overcome the disadvantage of lack of security for the card dispensers in the prior art and to provide an apparatus for receiving and dispensing cards automatically with installation protection to ensure security of cards therein.
A technical solution utilized in this invention to solve its technical problem is: an apparatus for receiving and dispensing cards automatically is provided, including a card receiving and dispensing main body and a card dispensing box removably installed on said main body; said card dispensing box includes a card dispensing box body, a card outlet and a card gate configured on said card dispensing box body; said card dispensing box also includes a card gate locking device for controlling opening and closing of said card gate; said apparatus also includes an identification and unclocking device, which controls action of the card gate locking device on the card dispensing box matched with the card receiving and dispensing main body so as to open the card gate of the card dispensing box.
This invention has following advantageous effects: by an identification and unclocking device controlling the activity of the card gate locking device on the card dispensing box associated with the card receiving and dispensing main body to open the card gate of the card dispensing box, there existing a unique correspondence between the card dispensing box and the card receiving and dispensing main body, so as to prevent the card dispensing box from being controlled and used by other card receiving and dispensing main bodies, such that management and control to the card dispensing box is optimized. Furthermore, since the opening of the card gate locking device is controlled by the identification and unclocking device, if the card dispensing box is not matched with the apparatus for receiving and dispensing cards, the card gate locking device can not be opened, so as to ensure security of the cards in the card dispensing box.
An apparatus for receiving and dispensing cards automatically according to a specific embodiment of the present invention is shown in
In the present embodiment, the card gate locking device is an electronic-controlled device and comprises a card gate locking mechanism for controlling opening and locking of the card gate, and an electric unlocking mechanism 40 for triggering action of the card gate locking mechanism. The electric unlocking mechanism 40 may be selected from electromagnet, motor etc., for triggering and driving the card gate locking mechanism acting. The card gate locking mechanism is only needed to be able to drive the card gate 90 to move up and down for opening and locking the card outlet 141, of course, it is best to be provided with self-locking function, so as to improve security. The details will be described in the following.
The identification and unlocking device is also an electronic-controlled device and comprises a conductive mechanism and a communication mechanism arranged on the card receiving and dispensing main body and the card dispensing box, a memory arranged on the card dispensing box for storing identification information, and a controller arranged on the card receiving and dispensing main body. In the present embodiment, the card receiving and dispensing main body and the card dispensing box are provided with a circuit board therein, respectively. The conductive mechanism is a conductive contact or a connector arranged on the card receiving and dispensing main body and the card dispensing box, respectively. For example, a flexible probe is utilized for connecting; wherein, the flexible probe is fixed on the card receiving and dispensing main body and electrically connected with a motherboard of the card receiving and dispensing main body; the other end of the flexible probe touches the contacts 22 on the card dispensing box. There are four contacts, i.e., a power cord, a ground and two communication lines. The two communication lines may be implemented by wireless communication, such as radio communication or infrared communication.
When the card dispensing box is positioned in the card receiving and dispensing main body, the conductive mechanism is connected to supply power to the card dispensing box. It should be noted that built-in power supply may be arranged in the card dispensing box. When the card dispensing box is positioned in the card receiving and dispensing main body, just turn on the power supply. As the card dispensing box is power on, communication is established between the card receiving and dispensing main body and the card dispensing box by the communication mechanism, such as by a contact-based connector, non-contact infrared and Bluetooth communications etc. The controller on the card receiving and dispensing main body sends a signal requesting identification information of the card dispensing box, and the card dispensing box returns a response. The controller identifies the identification information in the response. If the identification information in the response does not match, the electric unlocking mechanism of the card dispensing box does not work, and the card gate can not be opened. If the identification information in the response matches with the card receiving and dispensing main body, the controller sends a control signal to control the electric unlocking mechanism acting, so as to trigger and control the card gate locking mechanism to open the card gate, and enters a state of waiting for dispensing cards.
Referring to
Further, the apparatus for receiving and dispensing cards automatically is also provided with a detection device for detecting whether the card gate is opened successfully (S10). The detection device may be a light sensor or a position sensor, etc. When the card gate is detected to be opened successfully, the card receiving and dispensing main body may perform operation of dispensing cards (S11), otherwise, it can not perform the operation of dispensing cards (S12).
Further, the apparatus for receiving and dispensing cards automatically is also provided with a memory for recording state of the card dispensing box automatically, which is used to record the state of the card gate of the card dispending box, and a workflow thereof is shown in
As shown in
In the two embodiments described above, similar structure may be utilized to implement the card gate clocking mechanism. An embodiment in which the card dispensing box is provided with a card locking mechanism is shown in
The card gate locking mechanism for opening or locking the card gate is mounted on the panel 80. An electromagnet 40 used as the electric unlocking mechanism is fixed on the panel 80 by means of screws 601. An output of the electromagnet 40 is connected to a pull rod 42 through which a pin 41 is positioned. The other end of the pin 41 is positioned through a pin hole 53 on the self-locking linkage 50. The pull rod 42 is driven by the electromagnet 40 and the self-locking linkage 50 is driven to rotate by the pin 41. The self-locking linkage 50 may rotate around a shaft 51 which is riveted on the panel 80. The shaft 51 is just a constraint for the self-locking linkage. The self-locking linkage 50 has only a degree of freedom of turning around the shaft 51.
Thus, after the electromagnet 40 is power on, the pull rod 42 begins to act to drive the self-locking linkage 50 to turn around clockwise via the pin 41. One end of a reset spring 61 hangs in a hole 54 of the self-locking linkage 50, and the other end hangs on the panel 80. The pull of the reset spring 61 makes the self-locking linkage 50 has a tendency to turn around counterclockwise. After the electromagnet 40 is power off, the self-locking linkage 50 resets by the pull of the reset spring 61. It is shown that the card gate 90 slides straightly along a linear guide constituted of a side rail 30 and the panel 80, wherein the side rail 30 is fixed on the panel 80 by means of screws 603. Four side rails as shown may constraint five degrees of freedom of the card gate 90. The linear guide is a constraint for the card gate.
A barrier 93 on the card gate 90 is utilized to trigger a sensor 21 mounted on the circuit board 20. The sensor 21 is generally an interruptible photoelectric sensor or a mechanical switch triggered sensor for detecting the opening and closing of the card gate, so as to record the opening and closing states of the card gate 90 which may be stored in the memory in order to enable monitoring the state of the card gate 90, and a querying flow thereof is shown in
Now referring to
Further, referring to
After the card dispensing box is installed in place, based on the identification and confirmation of the card receiving and dispensing main body, the card dispensing box begin to communicate with the card receiving and dispensing main body, a singlechip on the circuit board 20 of the card dispensing box respond to the signal sent by the card receiving and dispensing main body, if conditions are met, power is supplied to the electromagnet 40. After the electromagnet 40 is power on, the pull rod 42 begins to act and drive the self-locking linkage 50 rotating clockwise via the pin 41. Referring to
In the present embodiment, the card gate locking device comprises the pull rod 42, the reset spring 61, the self-locking linkage 50, the tension spring 60, the locking end 94 of the card gate, the locking end 52 of the self-locking linkage, and the screw 604 etc. The card gate is locked on by a cooperation of the components as mentioned above, and the card gate is unlocked by the electromagnet 40. It should be noted that the card gate locking device and the electromagnet may be implemented by other structural manners, such as a structure disclosed in CN patent NO. 200820235479.7 or a manner where the card gate is driven directly by gear and rack.
In order to improve reliability of the present invention, there is also a locking box mechanism positioned in the interlayer. The locking box mechanism comprises a card box lock lever 70, a shaft 71, a coupling shaft 72 and a profile hole 91 positioned on the card gate 90. In
During the operation of the card dispensing box, it is often needed to take it away and supplement cards into it. In this scenario, it is needed to press down the card gate to close the card outlet 141. With regards to this, the apparatus for receiving and dispensing cards automatically is provided with a card gate closing mechanism for driving the card gate locking mechanism to close the card gate.
The card gate closing mechanism comprises a rail-based gate closing mechanism which comprises a guide shaft 97 arranged on one side of the card dispensing box body, a compression shaft 95 arranged on the other side of the card gate and extending out off the dispensing box body, and a pair of rails arranged on the card receiving and dispensing main body. The rails comprises a left rail 1214 arranged on a left panel 1204 of the card receiving and dispensing main body and a right rail 1213 arranged on a right panel 1203 of the card receiving and dispensing main body, and the two rails are arranged separately but opposite to each other; the guide shaft 97 is inserted into the left rail 1214; the compression shaft 95 is inserted into the right rail 1213. The right rail 1213 is provided with a protrusion for stopping the compression shaft 95 from moving downward; and the left rail 1214 comprises at least one stopping section corresponding to the protrusion.
The working principle of the rail-based card closing mechanism is to utilize the structure shape of the left rail 1214 on the left panel 1204 and the right rail 1213 on the right panel 1203 to enable closing the gate during the card dispensing box is drawn out. Referring to
Further, the card gate closing mechanism also comprises a compression-bar-based gate closing mechanism for assisting in closing the card gate. The compression-bar-based gate closing mechanism comprises a compression bar 1106 rotatably mounted on the card receiving and dispensing main body, and a compression-bar reset spring 1301 for driving the compression bar 1106 to reset. The compression bar 1106 comprises a left arm and a right arm respectively mounted on the left panel 1204 and the right panel 1203 by shafts, and a handle across the left panel 1204 and right panel 1203 for linking the left arm with the right arm. The compression-bar reset spring 1301 is mounted between the left panel 1204 and the left arm. The left arm is provided with an arc surface 1136 intervening with the left rail 1214 in the lower part, and a card stopping surface 1126 is arranged at the inner side of the arc surface 1136. The guide shaft 97 contacts and drives the arc surface 1136 to drive the compression bar 1106 turning around clockwise. After the guide shaft 97 passes through the arc surface 1136, the compression-bar reset spring 1301 drives the compression bar 1106 turning around counterclockwise, and the guide shaft 97 is stuck against the card stopping surface 1126 to form a locking state. The right arm is provided with a shaft pressing surface in the lower part for suppressing the compression shaft in the unlocking operation. The right panel 1203 is provided with a stopping plate 1224 for stopping the compression bar 1106 from turning around counterclockwise in the locking state.
As shown in
Further, the right end of the compression shaft 95 may be covered with the protection tube 96. The protection tube 96 is exposed outside the box body and is linked with the card gate 90. When closing the gate, it is just needed to press down the protection tube 96. In the actual operation, the card dispensing box may be subjected to various unpredictable impact damages. To ensure that the card gate 90 is able to slide freely along the side rail reliably, it is needed to absorb any possible load applied to the protection tube. Thus, the protection tube 96 is set with a structure that two ends are bigger than the middle. The interfaces between the bigger part and the smaller part are an inner interface 961 and an outer interface 962 successively from left to right. The protection tube 96 is utilized to absorb external impact to protect the card gate 90 from being damaged. The inner interface 961 contacts with an inner surface 151 at the right side of the box base 150, and the outer interface 962 contacts with an outer surface 12 at the right side of the box cover. A long groove 152 positioned on the box base 150 and a long groove 13 positioned on the box cover are parallel to each other and form the rails, so as to enable the smaller part at the middle of protection tube 96 being positioned in the rails and moving up and down freely.
In the scenario where the card 140 is stuck in the card outlet 141, the card dispensing box can not be removed, as a result, the apparatus for receiving and dispensing cards automatically is provided with a card receiving mechanism. As shown in
The profiles of the rails 1212 and 5014 are nearly the same. At least one section of the rails 1212 and 5014 are inclined upward from the card outlet of the card dispensing box in a direction away to the card outlet. In the present embodiment, the rails 1212 and 5014 are approximately āLā-shaped, and an obvious abdicating groove is arranged on their highest point. At an initial position, the reset spring 5012 pulls the supporting shaft 5010 to be on the highest point of the rails 1212, 5014, at the moment, the location of the pull-back hook 1202 is higher than that of the card outlet, and the card may pass normally through the space below the pull-back hook 1202. When the wretch 5012 is pulled, the pull-back hook 1202 moves downward firstly, and then moves horizontally, so as to push the card 140 back into the card dispensing box. After releasing the wretch 5012, the pull-back hook 1202 is driven by the spring 5021 to go back to the initial position rapidly.
The card dispensing box is provided with a hook 1205 on the bottom for transferring the card 140 in the card dispensing box 1001 to the card dispensing mechanism to be dispensed. The card dispensing box is provided with a long hole for letting the hook 1205 pass through, but the card is unable to pass through the long hole in any way. That is, the largest size of the long hole is smaller than the smallest width of the card 140. Further, the apparatus for receiving and dispensing cards automatically comprises a card-dispensing vibration damping mechanism to reduce vibration produced during dispensing the cards. The card-dispensing vibration damping mechanism comprises a driving wheel 5033 driven by a motor to turn around and fixed on the card receiving and dispensing main body, a card transporting wheel 1201 opposite to the driving wheel 5033, and a spring 5031 for suppressing the card transporting wheel 1201. The card transporting wheel 1201 is rotatable-mounted on the card receiving and dispensing main body by the supporting shaft 5032. The supporting shaft 5032 is provided with a screw 5030 with the other end passing through a bending hole arranged on one side panel of the apparatus for receiving and dispensing cards automatically. The screw 5030 is covered by the spring 5031, two ends of the spring 5031 connect to the supporting shaft 5032 and the bending hole of the card receiving and dispensing main body respectively, such that vibration produced by the card transporting wheel 1201 and the driving wheel 5033 is absorbed by the spring 5031. When the driving wheel is driven by a motor, the card 140 is transported by means of friction force produced between the card transporting wheel 1201, the driving wheel 5033 and the card. When the card 140 passes between the card transporting wheel 1201 and the driving wheel 5033, as the driving wheel 5033 is fixed on the card receiving and dispensing main body, the card transporting wheel 1201 may be extruded by the card 140 to be tilted up, and vibration of the card transporting wheel 1201 may be absorbed by the spring 5031. At the moment, a reaction force produced by the spring 5031 drives the card transporting wheel to remain the tendency of moving toward the driving wheel, so as to press the card tightly and also ensure the card sending force for transporting the cards during the cards is transported.
Further, a card distributing plate 120 is arranged at the card outlet and passes through the two bending holes 115 on the shaft 121 and the box wall 110. The card distributing plate is provided with a threaded hole 122, and a screw 602 passes through the threaded hole 122 for adjusting the verticality of the card distributing plate 120 relative to the box wall 110. The screw 602 may be adjusted directly through a screwdriver passing through an adjusting hole 92. With the pressure from a pressure spring 62, one end of the screw 602 leans against the box wall 110, such that the card distributing plate is able to turn around only in a single direction, and the pressure spring covers the screw 602 in order to ensure a reset of the card distributing plate during turning around only in a single direction. In the process where the apparatus for receiving and dispensing cards automatically is dispensing cards, when the card 140 is stuck at the card outlet 141 for some possible reasons, a slice and a finger may be utilized to push the card back into the card dispending box, so as to ensure the card gate 90 of the card dispending box may be closed. The card distributing plate 120 is set to enable turning in a direction where the card is pushed back, so as to ensure the card can be pushed back into the card dispending box easily. The card outlet 141 is comprised of the card distributing plate 120 and the box base 150. The card outlet 141 has a gap allowing only a card to pass through. The card distributing plate 120 is supported in the interior of the box body by the shaft 121 and may rotate around the shaft 121.
In order to retrieve and store the cards withdrawn by the card receiving and dispensing main body, the card receiving and dispensing main body is further provided with a card receiving box. Referring to
The card receiving box body comprises a box base 50S and a box cover 20S; wherein, the box base 50S is positioned in a cavity of the box cover 20S, and the box cover 20S is provided with the card inlet on the top. The card receiving gate mechanism is accommodated between the box base 505 and the box cover 20S, and comprises a card gate 30S, a self-locking linkage 60S, a pin 62S, a E-shaped ring 63S, a tension spring 80S and a tension spring 81S etc. The pin 62S passes through a circular hole 54S on a bending part 55S and a circular hole 61S on the self-locking linkage 60S, and the E-shaped ring 63S is clipped at the end of the pin 62S, such that the self-locking linkage 60S may turn around the pin 62S reliably without sliding away from it. The self-locking linkage 60S is provided with a bending part 64S at its end, correspondingly, the box base 505 is provided with a bending part 64S on the sidewall 57S. The tension spring 81S has one end hooked on the bending part 64S and the other end hooked on bending part 53S. The pull by the tension spring 81S makes the self-locking linkage 60S has a tendency of moving toward the sidewall 57S of the box base 505.
The card gate 30S is a U-shaped structure, and comprises two bending parts 33S, 34S; wherein, the bending part 33S sliding-contacts the surface of the bending part 55S, and the bending part 34S sliding-contacts the surface of the bending part 56S. After the box cover 20S covers the box base 505, a rail cavity is formed by the inner surface of the box cover 20S, the surface of the bending part 55S, and the surface of the bending part 56S. The card gate is accommodated in the cavity and slides along the rail; wherein, the sliding direction is parallel to the direction of the tension spring 80S. One end of the tension spring 80S is hung on a circular groove 42S of a gate spindle 40S, and the other end connects to the box body 10S. The gate spindle 40S passes through a via 31S. The end of the self-locking linkage 60S is stuck by the E-shaped ring 63S to ensure the stability of the self-locking linkage 60S. The long holes 24S, 25S are positioned on the two sidewalls of the box cover 20 respectively, and the two ends of the gate spindle 40S just passes the corresponding long holes 24S, 25S.
The box base 50S is provided with locating holes 22S, 23S on one end, and the box cover 20S is provided with locating protruding-platforms 51S, 52S on the corresponding end; the locating protruding-platforms is just positioned in the locating holes. On the other end, the box base 50S is connected with the box cover 20S by threaded connection. In the assembling, firstly, the box base 50S is covered by the box cover 20S; then, the locating protruding-platforms 51S, 53S is aligned to the locating holes 22S, 23S and then inserted therein; after that, the screw 90S is utilized to screw the box body 10S from inside to outside by the card entering the open 26S of the box body; wherein, the structure relation from inside to outside is followed with a screw cap of the screw 90S, the bending part 27S on the bottom of the box cover 20S, the screw and the box base 50S are screwed together.
After the card gate mechanism as shown in
A hollow rail is just formed by the bending part 55S on the box base 50S and the top inner surface 29S of the box cover 20S as shown in
Referring to
If someone wants to open the card gate 30S, it is needed that a key turns a cam lock 70S mounted on the box cover 20S through a lock hole 28S. The lock tongue of the cam lock 70S turns from the location of 71S to the location of 72S, and then contacts with the surface of the unlocking end 66S of the self-locking linkage 60S. The self-locking linkage 60S turn counterclockwise around the pin 62S, and then the surface 35S of the card gate 30S is away from contacting with the surface 65S of the self-locking linkage 60S. The card gate 30S slides under the force of the tension spring 80S, and then the card gate 30S is opened, as a result, the card 92S within the card receiving box can be taken out.
The apparatus for receiving and dispensing cards automatically further comprises a card-receiving gate closing mechanism for driving the card-receiving gate mechanism to close the card inlet. When the card receiving box 1002 is removed, after the automatic operation of the gate closing mechanism, the gate is automatically closed during the removal; otherwise, the card receiving box can not be removed from the apparatus for receiving and dispensing cards successfully.
Referring to
In order to facilitate the received card to fall into the card receiving box, the card receiving and dispensing main body is provided with a receiving plate 5040, which is rotatably mounted on the shaft 1206 and has a moment of turning clockwise under the deadweight moment or the spring moment. During the card is dispensed from left of the card dispensing box 1001, the card 140 may pass through the receiving plate 5040 successfully. When the card has passed through the transmission wheel 1201 on the most left end of the receiving plate and then reverses, the card 140 is guided by the inclined receiving plate 5040 to enter the card receiving box 1002.
In order to prevent the card dispensing box and the card receiving box are removed as a whole, the apparatus for receiving and dispensing cards automatically further comprises a card box theftproof mechanism. The card box theftproof mechanism comprises a gate spindle 5050 fixed on the card receiving and dispensing main body, a security gate 5052 mounted on the gate spindle 5052 in a rotary way, a cam lock 5051 arranged on the security gate 5052, and a lock hole arranged on the sidewall of one side panel of the card receiving and dispensing main body. The card dispensing box and the card receiving box are enclosed within the card receiving and dispensing main body by the security gate 5052. When being closed, the security gate 5052 rotates counterclockwise the cam lock 5051, and the tongue of the cam lock 5051 stretches into the lock hole 5053 on the right panel 1203, such that neither of the two card boxes can be pulled out.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200910105399.9 | Feb 2009 | CN | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN10/70585 | 2/9/2010 | WO | 00 | 8/18/2011 |
