JP2665212B2 - IC card reader / writer - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a card reader
The present invention relates to a card ejection mechanism, particularly to a card forced ejection mechanism . 2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 17 to 19 are schematic diagrams for explaining the structure of a conventional IC card reader / writer. FIG. 17 shows a state before an IC card is inserted, and FIG.
Indicates a state in which an IC card is being inserted, and FIG.
The state where the C card is in the loading position is shown. [0003] In these figures, reference numeral 101 denotes a housing, which is provided with a slope 103 gradually rising from the entrance side to the back side in the insertion direction X of the IC card 102. 104 is a card doorway 1 of the housing 101
It is a lock claw provided in the vicinity of 05. [0006] Reference numeral 106 denotes a mover which is always elastically urged toward the card entrance 105 by a tension spring (not shown), but moves to the back side with the insertion of the IC card 102. The movable member 106 is formed with a hollow portion 107 having a rectangular planar shape penetrating in a direction perpendicular to the insertion direction of the IC card 102, and a contact member 108 having the same shape as the hollow portion 107 is vertically movable therein. Has been inserted. A predetermined number of contact pins 109 protrude from the upper surface of the contact member 108, that is, the side facing the IC card 102 to be inserted. on the other hand,
On the lower surface of the contact member 108, an inclined surface 110 that slides on the slope 103 is formed. Reference numeral 111 denotes a card end sensor, which is arranged near the end of the slope 103. As shown in FIG. 17, before the IC card 102 is inserted, the lock claw 104 is in a closed state,
06 stands by near the card entrance 105. IC
When the card 102 is inserted to some extent from the card entrance 105, the tip of the IC card 102 comes into contact with the moving element 106 as shown in FIG. When the IC card 102 is further inserted in this state, the moving element 106 moves horizontally toward the back of the housing 101 accordingly. On the other hand, the contact member 108 also moves toward the back side of the housing 101 while being pushed by the mover 106, but at the time of the movement, gradually rises while sliding on the slope 103. [0006] Then, as shown in FIG.
2 is inserted to a predetermined position (loading position), the tip of the contact pin 109 is
2 is pressed against a contact terminal pattern (not shown).
The card end sensor 111 detects that the IC card 102 has reached the loading position,
An electromagnetic solenoid (not shown) is driven by the detection signal to rotate the lock claw 104. In this state, reading or writing of information is performed. On the other hand, I
When the eject operation of the C card 102 is performed, the electromagnetic solenoid operates according to an eject command signal from a control unit (not shown), whereby the lock claw 104 automatically returns to the position shown in FIG. The movable element 106 and the contact member 108 are pushed toward the card entrance 105 by the restoring force of the spring urging the IC card 102, whereby the IC card 102 is ejected. [0007] This conventional IC card reader / writer does not consider the forced ejection of the IC card. Therefore, if the electromagnetic solenoid breaks down or power supply to the electromagnetic solenoid is stopped for some reason (for example, due to a power failure), there is an inconvenience that the IC card cannot be removed from the reader / writer. An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and to provide a user-friendly IC card reader / writer capable of forcibly discharging an IC card. In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention relates to a card, for example, which is engaged with a leading end of a card.
Provided with an engaging portion such as a hook.
Which card removal members and card removal members
Hold it in the standby position, such as a screw
Locking means and a card engaging with a part of the card removing member.
The card removal member in the card removal direction.
Projecting elastic members such as il springs and projecting bullets
Receiving the elastic force of the elastic member, such as a stopper plate
And a blocking member. And in the card removal standby state,
The elastic member for projection is in the pressed state, and
The ejection member is brought to the card removal standby position by the locking means.
Holds and the knob of the card removal member protrudes from the front panel
And the leading end of the card into which the engaging portion has been inserted.
When the card is forcibly ejected,
By releasing the locking means, the elastic
Move the card removal member in the card removal direction with your
The knob is configured to protrude from the front plate.
It is characterized by having. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As described above, the present invention relates to . In the card removal standby state, use the knob of the card removal member.
Section does not protrude from the front panel, so the card reader
The operator's hand or the like accidentally hits the knob
Safe without any injuries. . During normal handling, the knob of the card removal member is on the front panel
If it is more protruding, you accidentally pull out the card removal member,
Forcibly eject the card while writing or reading information
Cause a problem in information processing. That point
In the present invention, the handle of the card removing member is
Since it does not protrude from the face plate, the trouble
No worries about life. . Release the lock when the card is forcibly ejected.
As a result, the card removal member is automatically moved by the elastic force of the elastic member for projection.
Because it is pushed out dynamically, it is convenient for card ejection.
You. Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a plan view of the IC card and the reader / writer before the IC card is inserted, FIG. 2 is a front view of the reader / writer, FIG. 3 is a front view of the reader / writer with the plug removed, and FIG. FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of a main part of the reader / writer.
First, the overall schematic configuration of the reader / writer will be described. On the front of the die-cast chassis 1,
A front plate 2 made of a synthetic resin molded body is attached. A guide member 4 extending along an insertion direction X of an IC card 3 to be described later is fixed to a substantially central portion of the chassis 1, and a movable member 5 can move within the guide member 4 with a predetermined stroke. Has been instructed. The moving element 5 is always elastically biased toward the front plate 2 by a tension spring 6. The drive motor 7 which can be rotated forward and backward is the guide member 4
And a drive-side bevel gear 8 is attached to a drive shaft thereof. The driven bevel gear 8 is meshed with a driven bevel gear 9, and a roller pad 10 made of an elastic material such as rubber is provided coaxially with the driven bevel gear 9, and rotates integrally with the driven bevel gear 9. I do. In the vicinity of the guide member 4, a first card sensor 11 composed of a transmissive photo sensor and a second card sensor 12 composed of a transmissive photo sensor are provided.
Along the insertion direction X of the IC card 3, the IC card 3 is disposed substantially at the center and the back of the chassis 1. A card take-out bar 13 is provided substantially in parallel with the guide member 4, and the tip of the card take-out bar 13 is inserted into a through-hole 14 formed in the front plate 2.
Is blocked. [0015] As shown in FIG.
The lower plate 16 is attached to the chassis 1 via a card insertion space 33 (see FIG. 3) having a sufficient space for the C card 3 to be inserted.
A slot 17 is formed at a position opposite to. The elongated hole 17 is provided with a plate-like slider 1 from above the lower plate 16.
8 are fitted and fixed. A pressing roller 19 that elastically contacts the roller pad 10 is rotatably mounted on the lower surface plate 16. The pressing roller 19 is made of synthetic resin, and an elastic biasing force is applied to the roller pad 10 by a coil spring 20. (See FIG. 12). The card removal bar 13 of the lower plate 16
A slide groove 21 is cut from the end edge at a position corresponding to. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, for example, when the light emitting elements of the first card sensor 11 and the second card sensor 12 are respectively fixed to the chassis 1 side,
The opposing light receiving element is fixed to the lower plate 16 side.
The overall schematic configuration is as described above. Next, the loading (ejection) mechanism of the IC card 3 will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 5, the guide member 4 fixed to the chassis 1 has a substantially U-shape in front view, and guide grooves 23 having the same shape as shown in FIGS. Are formed two by two in the insertion direction X of the IC card 3. The guide groove 23 is located in the upper horizontal portion 2.
3a, the lower horizontal portion 23b, and the upper horizontal portion 23
a and an inclined portion 23c that connects the lower horizontal portion 23b. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the movable member 5 guided by the guide member 4 is composed of a carriage 24 made of a material having a small frictional resistance such as a polyacetal resin and a phosphor bronze thin plate. Eight contacts 25, two support pins 30, and the support pins 3
0 and a metal roller 31 rotatably supported at each end. The carriage 24 is composed of a horizontal portion 26 and a card contact portion 27 which hangs down from the rear end of the horizontal portion 26. Pins are inserted into the front and rear sides of the horizontal portion 26 as shown in FIG. Holes 28 are formed parallel to each other. In order to minimize the frictional resistance between the IC card 3 and the card contact portion 27, as shown in FIG.
1 is designed to be narrower than the width W2 of the horizontal portion 24. 2
Reference numeral 9 denotes a spring hook portion, on which one end of a tension spring 6 is hooked as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, the tip of the contact 25 is bent in a rectangular shape, and as shown in FIG. 6, the tip is split into two. The reason for the splitting will be described later. Eight contacts 25 are fixed to the horizontal portion 26 of the carriage 24, respectively, and the contacts 25 are connected to a flexible print circuit (FPC) 32 as shown in FIG. The width of the carriage 24 is slightly smaller than the distance between the side walls 22, 22 of the guide member 4, and as shown in FIG. 1, the carriage 24 is disposed between the side walls 22, 22, and as shown in FIG. The rollers 5 are rotatably inserted into the guide grooves 23 so that the movable member 5 is supported by the guide member 4. As shown in FIG. 13, on one side wall of the chassis 1, a leaf spring 34 bent in a mountain shape so as to face the card insertion space 33 is supported by two retaining pins 35. The other side wall of the opposite chassis 1 is a card receiving portion 36. Before describing the loading operation of the IC card 3, the structure of the IC card 3 will be briefly described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 8, the IC card 3 has a card substrate 38 made of a hard synthetic resin plate, overlays 39, 39 adhered to the upper and lower surfaces thereof, and an adhesive 40 at a predetermined position on the card substrate 38. 1 and a magnetic layer 42 in a stripe shape embedded in a card substrate 38 as shown in FIG. FIG. 9 shows the structure of the module 41.
It is. Module 41 has contact terminal pattern 4
3 is formed on the first printed circuit board 44, an IC chip 46 is fixed on the lower surface of the first printed circuit board 44 with an adhesive 45, and the IC chip 46 is fixed on the lower surface of the first printed circuit board 44 with an adhesive 45, and is fixed on both surfaces. A second printed board 48 on which the conductive pattern 47 is formed, a bonding wire 49 connecting the IC chip 46 and the second printed board 48, a sealing frame 50, and formed in the sealing frame 50. And a resin layer 51. Next, the loading operation of the IC card 3 will be described. 1 and 10 show a standby state before the IC card 3 is inserted. As shown in these figures, the movable element 5 is pulled to the front plate 2 side most by the tension spring 6, and at this time, the roller 31 is moved to the horizontal position above the guide groove 23 as shown in FIG. At 23a. Therefore, the movable element 5 is located at the highest position in the guide member 4, and the tip of the contact element 25 is located in the upper part of the card insertion space 33, and is in a free state where it is not pressed and deformed. The state of the contact 25 drawn by a solid line in FIG. 7 indicates this free state. As shown in FIG. 10, in this standby state, the leading end of the card contact portion 27 of the movable element 5 (carriage 24) crosses the card insertion space 33 and faces the square groove 37 of the slider 18. (See FIG. 4). In such a state, as shown in FIG. 1, the IC card 3 is placed with the module 41 facing upward and first.
To the card entrance 52 of the reader / writer (see FIG. 2).
Insert from. By this insertion, the side edge of the IC card 3 comes into contact with the leaf spring 34 as shown in FIG.
The IC card 3 is pushed toward the card receiving portion 36 by the pressing force of 4, and the position of the IC card 3 in the card insertion space 33 in the width direction (the direction orthogonal to the insertion direction X) is regulated. As shown in FIG. 10, the upper surface of the slider 18 fixed to the lower plate 16 slightly protrudes from the upper surface of the lower plate 16, and further has a front portion for guiding the IC card 3 smoothly. An inclined surface 53 is provided. Therefore, the leading end of the inserted IC card 3 rides on the upper surface of the slider 18 along the inclined surface 53, and when the IC card 3 is further inserted, the leading end is positioned between the light emitting element and the light receiving element of the first card sensor 11. Pass through. A card arrival signal is output by this passage, and based on the signal, the drive motor 7 starts to rotate forward in the direction of inserting the IC card 3, and its rotational force is transmitted to the roller pad 10 via bevel gears 8 and 9. , Roller pad 10 and pressing roller 19
Rotate in the direction of inserting the IC card 3 and wait for the arrival of the IC card 3. When the IC card 3 is further inserted, its tip is sandwiched between the roller pad 10 and the pressing roller 19 as shown in FIG. 12, and the IC card 3 is automatically inserted from now on. The IC card 3 is sandwiched between the roller pad 10 and the pressing roller 11 so that the lower plate 1
6 and is held in a floating state at a substantially intermediate position of the card insertion space 33. This is because even if the entire IC card 3 is curved and there is a difference in height between the periphery of the IC card 3 and the module 41, the periphery of the IC card 3 is floated and only the module 41 is connected to the slider 18. Contact 2
5 eliminates the adverse effects of the curl of the IC card 3 and allows the contact 25 to
The contact terminal pattern 43 is appropriately contacted. When the IC card 3 is pushed further inward by the rotation of the roller pad 10 and the pressing roller 19, the leading end of the IC card 3 comes into contact with the card contact portion 27 of the moving element 5, and the IC card 3 is successively pushed in. Moves the moving element 5 together. With this movement, the roller 31 separates from the upper horizontal portion 23a of the guide groove 23 and reaches the lower horizontal portion 23b through the inclined portion 23c as shown in FIG. By moving the roller 31 in this manner, the moving element 5 descends while moving to the far side, whereby the contact element 25 comes into contact with the contact terminal pattern 43 of the IC card 3. As described above, the position of the IC card 3 in the width direction is regulated in the card insertion space 33 by the cooperation of the leaf spring 34 and the card receiving portion 36, so that the contact 25 Contact Due to this contact, the contact 25 is pressed and deformed without difficulty as shown by a dotted line in FIG. The position of the IC card 3 indicated by a dashed line in FIG. 1 is its loading position. When this position is reached, the optical path between the light emitting element and the light receiving element in the second card sensor 12 is cut off by the tip of the IC card 3, whereby a card arrival signal is output from the second card sensor 12 and the signal is output. , The rotation of the drive motor 7 is stopped, and the loading operation of the IC card 3 ends. As shown in FIG.
The holding force between the card and the pressing roller 19 is the tension spring 6
Is designed to be larger than the pulling force when the IC card 3 is extended, so that the IC card 3 is held at the loading position without being pulled back with the drive motor 7 stopped as described above. In this state, reading or writing of information is performed on the IC card 3. Next, the ejection operation will be described. When the IC card 3 is ejected from the card reader / writer, an AND command and an ejection command signal from a control unit (not shown) and a card presence signal for detecting that the IC card 3 is at the loading position by the second card sensor 12 are included. As a result, the drive motor 7 rotates in the reverse direction. As a result, the roller pad 10 and the pressing roller 19 are also rotated in reverse, and the IC card 3 is pushed back to the card entrance 52 side. The drive motor 7 is instructed to energize the rear end of the IC card 3 until it sufficiently passes through the roller pad 10. When the energization of the drive motor 7 is interrupted, the rotation of the roller pad 10 is stopped. . When the rotation of the roller pad 10 is stopped, the rear end of the IC card 3 is already separated from between the roller pad 10 and the pressing roller 19,
The leading end of the IC card 3 protrudes from the card entrance 52, and the ejecting operation is terminated by removing the IC card 3 with the protruding portion sandwiched between fingers. The IC card reader / writer according to the embodiment of the present invention has a loading mechanism and an eject mechanism as described above, but also has a card forcible ejection mechanism. When the IC card 3 is in a reader / writer, the card forcible ejection mechanism may cause the IC card 3 to fail due to, for example, a failure of the drive motor 7 or a stop of power supply to the drive motor 7 for some reason. Roller pad 10
The IC card 3 is forcibly ejected from the card entrance 52 when the IC card 3 is still held between the IC card 3 and the pressing roller 19. Next, the card forcible ejection mechanism will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, a card take-out bar 13 is arranged along the insertion direction X of the IC card 3, and its base end side (front plate 2 side) has a slightly larger diameter as shown in FIGS. Of the jig such as a screwdriver is inserted into the front end face of the knob 54.
A groove 55 having a shape is formed. A male screw 56 is provided slightly behind the knob 54, while a bar support 57 is projected from the chassis 1 immediately behind the front plate 2, and the male screw 56 is screwed into a through hole thereof. A mating female screw is formed. A stop ring 5 is provided in the middle of the bar 13 in the axial direction.
8 and a stop washer 59 is fixed to the tip. This retaining ring 58 and retaining washer 5
9, a coil spring 60 and a card hook 61 are interposed.
Is urged toward the stop washer 59 side by the elastic force of. As shown in FIG. 14, the card hook 61 has a hook portion 61a having a substantially U-shaped side surface and a hook portion 6a.
1a, and a bar penetrating portion 61b provided at the upper part of 1a. The vertical portion of the hook portion 61a is slightly narrower, and this portion corresponds to the slide groove 2 of the chassis 1.
1, the card hook 61 is prevented from falling out of the chassis 1. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 16,
A stopper plate 62 is fixed to the chassis 1 near the rear end of the slide groove 21. FIG. 1 shows a state when the card forced ejection mechanism is not used. At this time, the card removal bar 13 is pushed in, the coil spring 60 is compressed between the retaining ring 58 and the card hook 61, and the bar 13
Is supported by screwing a male screw 56 to a bar support 57, while the distal end of the bar 13 is supported by a card hook 61. The card hook 61 is on standby in a state in which the card hook 61 is in contact with the stopper plate 62 due to the elastic force generated by the compression of the coil spring 60. IC
When the card 3 is pushed into the loading position, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the tip of the IC card 3 is
1, and is opposed to the hook portion 61a. When the bar 13 is set at a predetermined position, the knob 54 of the bar 13 is slightly (about 12 mm) behind the front surface of the front plate 2 as shown in FIG. A plug 15 is elastically pushed into the front of the through hole 4 to close the through hole 14. The front plate 2 is formed of a synthetic resin and is electrically insulating, but the card take-out bar 13 is made of metal and has conductivity. So bar 1
If the end surface of the third member 3 is flush with or protrudes from the front plate 2, the static electricity flows to the chassis 1 through the bar 13 when the member bearing the static electricity contacts the end of the bar 13.
At this time, if the IC card 3 is loaded in the reader / writer, there is a concern that noise may be generated at the time of reading or writing information due to the static electricity. In this embodiment, taking this point into consideration, the bar 13
When the is set, the base end thereof is disposed at a place deep in the through hole 14, and the through hole 14 has a structure closed by an electrically insulating plug 15. When the IC card 3 is forcibly removed from the reader / writer, the stopper 15 is first removed from the through hole 14 as shown in FIG. Then, by inserting the tip of a jig such as a screwdriver into the through hole 14 and rotating the card removal bar 13, the bar 13 is removed from the bar support member 57. Then, the bar 13 and the card hook 61 are momentarily separated from the stopper plate 62 by the repulsive force of the coil spring 60, and the knob 54 of the bar 13 projects from the front plate 2 as shown in the figure. In this state, if the bar 13 is pulled forward with the knob 54, the card hook 61 comes into contact with the front end of the IC card 3, and the bar 13 is further pulled to rotate the roller pad 10 and the pressing roller 19 in reverse. The card 3 can be forcibly ejected from the card entrance 52. When the ejection of the IC card 3 is completed, the knob 54 of the bar 13 is pushed into the through hole 14 again, and the male screw 56 is
The bar 13 is supported between the bar support 57 and the card hook 61 as shown in FIG. In the above embodiment, the guide member is provided with a groove-shaped guide portion, but the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, a guide portion having a predetermined shape can be formed on the end surface of the guide member. Further, in the above-described embodiment, in order to minimize the resistance when the IC card is inserted, the roller is used as the protrusion protruding from the side surface of the movable member. However, instead of the roller, a pin or a ball is used. Is also good. Further, in the above-described embodiment, two protrusions are provided on both side surfaces of the movable member, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, two protrusions are provided on one side surface. , And one projection may be provided on the other side surface at an intermediate position between the two projections to form a three-point support structure. Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the tip of the IC card is received on the card contact surface. However, approximately two protruding ridges are formed on the card contact portion of the movable element, and the ridges are formed. If you receive the tip of the IC card at
The sliding resistance with the C card is further reduced. If the moving element card contact portion is made narrower than the other parts of the moving element as in the above embodiment, or if at least the card contact surface is made of a material having low frictional resistance, I
The sliding resistance with the C card is further reduced. Further, if a contact having a broken tip is used as in the above embodiment, even if dust or oil adheres to the surface of the IC card and the contact state of one tip is poor, The signal is transmitted by the reliable contact at the other end, so that the reliability can be improved. When the card removal bar is made of a conductive material as described above, the tip of the bar is pushed into a through hole formed in the electrically insulating front plate, and the opening of the through hole is further inserted into the electrically insulating plug. If you block it with your body,
Generation of noise due to static electricity can be prevented. Further, as in the above embodiment, the contact is an IC.
If a horizontal portion is provided at a portion of the guide portion corresponding to a position where the card comes into contact with the contact terminal pattern, the contact state between the contact and the contact terminal pattern is very stable. That is, the conventional IC shown in FIGS.
If the contact pin 109 comes into contact with the contact terminal pattern of the IC card 102 in the middle of the slope 103 like a card reader / writer, when the moving element 106 is shifted to the card entrance 105 side for some reason. Contact pin 10 to the contact terminal pattern
The contact of No. 9 becomes worse, which hinders reading or writing of information. In this regard, if a horizontal portion is provided in the guide portion as in the embodiment of the present invention, the contact state of the contact with the contact terminal is stable even if the movable member is slightly displaced, and the reliability can be improved. If the protrusion is provided at the middle position in the thickness direction on the side surface of the movable element or at a position higher than the middle position, the total height of the IC card reader / writer can be reduced and the IC card reader / writer can be made thinner. [0053] [Effect of the Invention The present invention as described above. In the card removal standby state, use the knob of the card removal member.
Section does not protrude from the front panel, so the card reader
The operator's hand or the like accidentally hits the knob
Safe without any injuries. . During normal handling, the knob of the card removal member is on the front panel
If it is more protruding, you accidentally pull out the card removal member,
Forcibly eject the card while writing or reading information
Cause a problem in information processing. That point
In the present invention, the handle of the card removing member is
Since it does not protrude from the face plate, the trouble
No worries about life. . Release the lock when the card is forcibly ejected.
As a result, the card removal member is automatically moved by the elastic force of the elastic member for projection.
Because it is pushed out dynamically, it is convenient for card ejection.
You.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view for explaining an IC card reader / writer according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is a plan view of a reader / writer and an IC card before card insertion. FIG. 2 is a front view of a reader / writer. FIG. 3 is a front view of the reader / writer with the plug removed. FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the reader / writer. FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of a main part of the reader / writer. FIG. 6 is a plan view of the moving element. FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a moving element. FIG. 8 is a partial cross-sectional view of the IC card. FIG. 9 is an enlarged sectional view of a module part of the IC card. FIG. 10 is a side view for explaining a position of a moving element before an IC card is inserted. FIG. 11 is a side view for explaining a position of a moving element when an IC card is inserted. FIG. 12 is a partial side view showing a state where the IC card is held between a roller pad and a pressing roller. FIG. 13 is a partial plan view showing a state where the position of the IC card is regulated between the leaf spring and the card receiving portion. FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a carriage. FIG. 15 is a partial cross-sectional view showing an opposed state of the IC card and the card hook. FIG. 16 is a plan view of the reader / writer for explaining an IC card reader / writer according to the embodiment of the present invention and illustrating a state where an IC card is forcibly taken out. FIG. 17 is a view for explaining a conventional IC card reader / writer, and is a cross-sectional view showing a state before an IC card is inserted. FIG. 18 is a view for explaining a conventional IC card reader / writer, and is a cross-sectional view showing a state where an IC card is being inserted. FIG. 19 is a diagram for explaining a conventional IC card reader / writer, and is a cross-sectional view showing a state where an IC card is at a loading position. [Description of Signs] 3 IC card 13 Card removal bar 61 Card hook 52 Card entrance X IC card insertion direction

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] (1) A card ejection member provided with an engaging portion for engaging with a leading end portion of a card, locking means for holding the card ejection member at a card ejection standby position, and the card ejection A projecting elastic member that engages with a part of the member to project the card ejecting member in the card ejecting direction; and a receiving member that receives the elastic force of the projecting elastic member. The elastic member is in a pressed state, the card ejection member is held at the card ejection standby position by the lock means, the knob of the card ejection member does not project from the front plate, and the engagement portion is inserted. When the card is forcibly ejected, the locking means is released, so that the card ejection member is moved in the card ejection direction by the elastic force of the projecting elastic member. An IC card reader / writer, wherein the knob is projected from the front plate.