JP3728275B2 - Card recorder - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that prints various images and characters on a recording medium such as a card. In particular, a plurality of processing units including a printer unit are rationally arranged to improve various processing efficiencies and make the configuration compact. And a card recording apparatus having a high degree of design freedom.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A card recording apparatus such as a card printer that prints or records various image information on the surface of a card-like plastic substrate to create a credit card, a license card, an IC card or the like is widely used.
[0003]
This type of recording apparatus usually comprises a card supply unit containing a plurality of blank cards, a processing unit such as a thermal transfer printer unit, and a card discharge unit for discharging a processing completion card. Arranged.
[0004]
In addition to the printer unit, the processing unit may include a magnetic encoder that magnetically records information on the card, a laminator that covers and protects the recording surface of the card. In any case, the card transport path for transporting the cards to be processed is substantially linear, and each part is arranged linearly along the transport path.
[0005]
Therefore, in order to make the recording apparatus compact, in addition to downsizing each part, consideration is given to narrowing the arrangement interval of each part. In particular, in order to reduce the size of the apparatus, the printer unit tends to be disposed close to the card supply unit. In other words, a card cleaner or the like may be interposed between the card supply unit and the printer unit. Usually, however, the card discharged from the card supply unit is fed into the printer unit in a straight line and at the shortest distance. Designed to be
[0006]
However, the printer unit in this type of apparatus occupies a large volume including the ink ribbon cartridge and the printer head, and similarly, the occupying volume of the card supply unit tends to increase in order to accommodate as many blank cards as possible.
[0007]
Of course, it is conceivable to reduce the size of the printer unit and card supply unit in order to make the device compact. However, if the size of the printer unit is reduced, the capacity of the ink ribbon will be reduced, resulting in inconvenience in use. Further, downsizing the card supply unit also has a limit in miniaturizing the elements of the processing unit because the storage capacity of the blank card is reduced and the processing efficiency is lowered.
[0008]
Because of the above circumstances, the conventional card printer requires at least a length for arranging the printer unit and the card supply unit side by side. Therefore, downsizing is hindered, and when the form satisfies the minimum volume, it must be an elongated rectangular parallelepiped. I couldn't get it, and the design freedom was poor.
[0009]
Therefore, the card transport path is divided vertically and arranged in parallel, the printer unit is provided in the upper card transport path, the magnetic encoder is provided in the lower card transport path, and the card transport path is provided in each of the upper and lower card transport paths. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 9-131944 proposes a card recording apparatus configured to allow card transfer between upper and lower card transport paths by a card transfer unit including card rotation means.
[0010]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
According to the above-described conventional apparatus, since the card conveyance path is divided into two parts in the vertical direction, the length of the apparatus can be halved, but the volume of the apparatus cannot be reduced substantially. In addition, the transfer path between the paired card rotation means only increases the moving distance of the card, that is, only increases the distance from the card storage unit or the printer unit to the magnetic encoder, and is not effective in card processing. .
[0011]
As described above, none of the conventional card recording apparatuses can ensure the compactness of the apparatus and the reasonable card transport efficiency without reducing the card processing efficiency.
[0012]
Therefore, in view of the above circumstances, the present invention aims to provide an apparatus without degrading a card transport performance and a plurality of processing capabilities such as printing and encoding while securing a sufficient storage capacity of a blank card. An object of the present invention is to provide a card recording apparatus that can be made compact and that has improved the degree of freedom in the layout design of each component.
[0013]
The present invention also provides a card recording apparatus that basically has a function of recording various information on the front and back of a card of a recording medium, and that can stably and reliably execute such a function with a simple drive / control system. There is.
[0014]
It is another object of the present invention to provide a card recording apparatus with high processing efficiency without causing a plurality of recording media to interfere with each other.
[0015]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problems, a card recording apparatus according to the present invention includes a card supply unit that is provided on a first transport path, stores one or more cards, and sends the cards one by one to the first transport path, and the first transport path. A first information recording unit that is provided on a second conveyance path that intersects substantially perpendicularly to the card and that prints information on a card supplied from the card supply unit; and a third conveyance path that intersects the first conveyance path A second information recording unit that records information on the card, and a card reversing unit that rotates at the intersection of the first, second, and third transport paths. A cleaner for cleaning the card provided in the middle of the first transport path between the card supply unit and the card reversing unit; The card reversing unit is supplied from the card supply unit Pass through the cleaner The card is rotated to send the card to the second conveyance path to the third conveyance path. As a result, the apparatus can be made compact by reducing the distance from the card supply section to the card reversing section and the distance from the card reversing section to the first or second information recording section. Can be transported. In addition to changing the direction of the card in the card reversing unit, it is possible to reverse the front and back, so that information on either the front or back of the card or both sides of the card in the first or second information recording unit. Recording processing can be arbitrarily performed.
[0016]
here ,Previous It is desirable that the card reversing unit has a roller that can rotate forward and backward while sandwiching the card.
[0017]
You may provide the card discharge part which discharges | emits a card | curd in the edge part of the said 1st conveyance path, or you may provide the card | curd discharge part which discharge | releases a card | curd in the edge part of the said 3rd conveyance path.
[0018]
The first information recording unit can be a thermal transfer printer unit that prints characters / images on a card, and the second information recording unit is a magnetic encoder or IC writer that magnetically records various types of information. Also good.
[0019]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a card recording apparatus that efficiently transports a recording medium such as a card so that a desired recording process can be performed efficiently and reliably, and rationally provides a plurality of transport paths for transporting the recording medium. It is characterized in that the device is made compact by arranging it. Here, an embodiment in which a card-like plastic substrate is used as a recording medium and various image information such as characters and images are printed or recorded on the surface of the card to create a credit card, a license card, an IC card, etc. will be described below. As will be described, the type of recording medium and the recording method are not particularly limited.
[0020]
A card recording apparatus shown as a first embodiment of the present invention in FIGS. 1 and 2 includes a first transport path p1 disposed substantially horizontally in a housing 1 and one or more blank cards (recording medium). A card supply unit 10 that stores C and sends out cards one by one to the first transport path p1, a second transport path p2 that is substantially orthogonal to the first transport path p2, that is, a substantially vertical path, and a supply. The information recording unit 20 records various information on at least one surface of the card C and the card reversing unit 30 provided at the intersection X of the first transport path p1 and the second transport path p2.
[0021]
The card supply unit 10 includes a card stacker 11 that stores one or more blank cards C in a stacked manner, a kick roller 12 that is provided at the bottom of the card stacker 11 and rotates to feed cards one by one from the card stacker 11; It comprises a lid 13 that opens and closes at least a part of the card stacker 11 so that it can be opened.
[0022]
The card stacker 11 usually has an opening slot that allows only one card to pass through at a position facing the first transport path p1, and rotates the kick roller 12 that is in contact with the lowest card of the stacked card C. Thus, only the lowest card is sent out to the first transport path p1.
[0023]
The opening / closing lid 13 is hinged to the upper portion of the housing 1 so as to be openable upward. The opening / closing lid 13 includes a card alignment piece 13a on the inner side, and a plurality of blank cards C are loaded in a stacked manner inside the card stacker 11 with the opening / closing lid 13 opened upward, and then the opening / closing lid 13 is closed. Thus, the card aligning piece 13a can press the rear end of the card bundle to align the card bundle.
[0024]
The information recording unit 20 in this embodiment employs a configuration of a thermal transfer printer that records information such as characters and images by thermal transfer onto one side of a card C that is a recording medium using thermal transfer ink. The type of recording information and the recording method are not limited.
[0025]
The information recording unit 20 constituting the thermal transfer printer here includes a platen roller 21 provided at the recording position Sr of the second transport path p2, a thermal head 22 provided so as to be able to advance and retreat with respect to the platen roller 21, and a thermal transfer. And an ink cartridge 23 containing an ink ribbon R coated with ink. A pair of transport rollers 25 and 26 that rotate synchronously so as to move the card back and forth with respect to the recording position Sr are provided along the second transport path p2.
[0026]
The ink ribbon R stored in the ink cartridge 23 passes between the platen roller 21 and the thermal head 22 from the ribbon supply reel 23a and is taken up by the ribbon take-up reel 23b. When information such as characters or images is thermally transferred and recorded on the card moving along the second transport path p2, the heating element of the thermal head 22 is used while pressing the thermal head 22 with the ink ribbon R interposed on the surface of the card. By selectively operating, the thermal transfer ink component applied to the ink ribbon R can be transferred to the surface of the card and desired information can be drawn.
[0027]
The thermal head 22 moves back and forth with respect to the platen roller 21 as follows: a holder 24a for detachably holding the thermal head 22, a driven roller 24b fixed to the holder 24a, and a non-circular cam 24c that rotates while contacting the driven roller 24b. And an advancing / retreating drive unit 24 comprising a spring 24d for bringing the holder 24a into contact with the cam 24c. In the illustrated embodiment, a configuration in which the head unit holding the thermal head 22 inside is detachable from the holder 24a is employed, but the configuration is not particularly limited to this configuration.
[0028]
The structure of such a thermal transfer recording method and thermal transfer printer is not particularly a novel technique, and a conventional printer unit such as a thermal melting thermal printer or thermal sublimation thermal printer can be used according to the purpose. Further, the structure of the advancing / retreating drive unit for advancing / retreating the thermal head 22 relative to the platen roller 21 is not particularly limited.
[0029]
The card reversing unit 30 located at the intersection X of the first transport path p1 and the second transport path p2 has a function of sending the card C from the first transport path p1 to the second transport path p2 or vice versa, and information recording The unit 20 has a function of rotating the card in order to turn the card over in order to print on one or both sides of the card.
[0030]
Here, the reversing unit 30 supports the pinch rollers 31a and 31b, which are paired so as to be able to hold the card, and the pinch rollers 31a and 31b so as to be rotatable, and an intersection X between the first transport path p1 and the second transport path p2. The rotary frame 32 rotates around the center.
[0031]
The pinch rollers 31a and 31b are pressed against each other across the first transport path p1 when the rotary frame 32 is in a horizontal state, and are pressed against each other across the second transport path p2 in a vertical state. One of the paired pinch rollers is a drive roller, and the other is a driven roller.
[0032]
The rotation of the rotary frame 32 and the rotation of the pinch rollers 31a and 31b can be executed by operating a drive system (not shown) that drives them synchronously. If the rotating frame 32 is rotated while the card is sandwiched between the pinch rollers 31a and 31b, the pinch roller also rotates together to displace the card. Therefore, when rotating the rotating frame 32, the pinch roller is rotated at the same angle. Reverse the rotation amount. In order to prevent the pinch rollers 31a and 31b from rotating together when the rotating frame 32 rotates, the rotating frame 32 and the pinch rollers 31a and 31b may be driven independently.
[0033]
However, in the present invention, the present invention is not particularly limited to the above-described means, and any structure having a function of transferring a card between the first transfer path and the second transfer path or rotating or reversing the card can be used. Something like that.
[0034]
In the figure, 40 is a cleaner for cleaning the card surface. The cleaner 40 is composed of a cleaning roller 41a such as an adhesive rubber material and a pressure contact roller 41b facing each other across the first transport path p1, and the card discharged from the card supply unit 10 is paired. Dust and the like can be removed when passing between cleaner rollers.
[0035]
Reference numerals r1 and r2 denote rollers for guiding the card delivery in the card supply unit 10. Reference numeral r3 denotes a card guide roller disposed between the card reversing unit 30 and the information recording unit 20 in the second transport path p2. None of the rollers r1 to r3 is indispensable in the present invention.
[0036]
In this embodiment, the completed card that has completed the intended process has the card discharge unit 50 positioned on the opposite side of the card reversing unit 30 from the card supply unit 10, that is, on the downstream side of the first transport path p1. That is, the card supply unit 10 is provided at one end of the first transport path p1, and the card discharge unit 50 is provided at the other end.
[0037]
Here, the card discharge unit 50 is merely provided with the opening 50a at a position corresponding to the first transport path p1 of the housing 1, but a card receiver or the like may be provided outside the opening 50a. r4 is a card discharge roller.
[0038]
All the operating parts of the recording apparatus can be driven by a simple drive control system. As an example, the kick roller 12 of the card supply unit and the rotating frame 32 of the card reversing unit are driven by one motor, and one of the pressing roller 41b, the pinch roller 31b, and the discharge roller r4 of the cleaner is driven by the other motor. The method is adopted. Each operating element may be driven and controlled by any driving system, and power transmission means, an electromagnetic clutch, or the like may be used as appropriate. A head drive source that rotates the cam 24c of the advance / retreat drive unit 24 of the information recording unit 20 is also used independently. However, if an electromagnetic clutch or the like is used, power such as a conveyance drive source can be used. In order to shorten the processing time in the continuous processing of the cards by sending the next blank card from the card supply unit 10 to the first transport path p1 and waiting while processing the first card in the second transport path p2. May be provided with respective drive sources capable of independently driving the first transport path p1 and the second transport path p2.
[0039]
The card recording processing operation by the recording apparatus having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 (A) to 4 (B).
[0040]
FIG. 3A shows an initial state in which a plurality of blank cards C are loaded in the card stacker 11 of the card supply unit 10, and when a card creation command is given, the kick roller 12 starts rotating, and only the lowest card c1 is detected. It is sent out from the card stacker 11 along the first transport path p1. In the figure, the surface f (upper side) of the card c1 to be recorded is conceptually represented by dots.
[0041]
When the center of the card c1 moving along the first transport path p1 is fed until it reaches the intersection X of the first and second transport paths, the rotating frame 32 is rotated while the card is held by the pinch rollers 31a and 31b. (See FIG. 3B). In the figure, the rotating frame 32 is rotated 270 degrees in the counterclockwise direction on the assumption that information is printed on the card surface f, but the rotating direction may be either.
[0042]
When the rotating frame 32 rotates 90 degrees and the card c1 coincides with the second transport path p2 (in the dotted line state in FIG. 4A), the pinch rollers 31a and 31b of the card reversing unit 30 are rotated to obtain information on the card c1. Sends out toward the recording unit 20. The sending of the card c1 from the card reversing unit 30 to the information recording unit 20 is completed when the recording start point of the card (the upper end of the card c1 in the figure) reaches the recording position Sr as shown in FIG. To do.
[0043]
Next, information recording processing to the card is executed. First, the head advance / retreat drive unit 24 of the information recording unit 20 operates to move the thermal head 22 toward the card. As a result, the thermal head 22 presses the ink ribbon R against the card surface f, and in this state, the card is moved toward the card reversing unit 30 (arrow in FIG. 4A), and the heating element of the thermal head 22 is moved. By selectively performing a heating operation, the ink component of the ink ribbon is thermally transferred to the card surface, whereby desired image information is printed on the card surface.
[0044]
When the information recording on the card surface is completed, the card is captured by one of the pinch rollers 31a and 31b of the card reversing unit 30 in the vertical state, as indicated by the dotted line in FIG. Guided to the center. Thereafter, the rotation frame 32 of the card reversing section is rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise (dotted line arrow in FIG. 4B), whereby the surface f of the card c1 faces upward and the end of the first transport path p1 is reached. The card is ejected to the card ejection unit 50 (solid line arrow in FIG. 4B).
[0045]
In the above process, the desired information recording process is executed on one side of the card. When recording is performed on both sides of the card, the card reversing unit 30 in FIG. Double-sided recording is realized by rotating and feeding again to the information recording unit 20 as shown in FIG.
[0046]
In the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3B, the card c1 sent from the card supply unit 10 is rotated by three right angles in the counterclockwise direction by the reversing unit 30 and sent to the information recording unit 20. However, as shown in FIG. 4B, in order to discharge the completed card upward, the card is rotated 360 degrees as a result, and the same rotation is performed regardless of which direction the reversing unit 30 rotates left or right. Therefore, the rotation direction of the reversing unit 30 is not limited, and the rotation direction may be determined as necessary.
[0047]
As described above, the recording apparatus of the present invention arranges the first conveyance path p1 provided with the card supply unit 10 and the second conveyance path p2 provided with the information recording unit 20 in a substantially orthogonal shape, thereby providing the card supply unit and the information. Since the elements including the recording unit can be arranged in a compact manner, the apparatus can be reduced in size and handled easily. In the conventional recording apparatus having a straight conveyance path, the apparatus is elongated and the volume of the apparatus is increased, and a large installation space is required. However, in the recording apparatus of the present invention, components are intensively arranged. Since it can be arranged, the volume of the apparatus can be reduced, and the length of the apparatus can be shortened, so that it can be effectively installed even in a narrow space.
[0048]
Furthermore, according to the recording apparatus of the present invention, the recording unit (printer) 20 stores information on only one surface of the recording medium by the card reversing unit 30 that is responsible for card transfer between the first conveyance path and the second conveyance path. Since the card can be turned over even if it has only a recording function, recording such as printing can be performed on both sides of the card as necessary.
[0049]
In the first embodiment, the card discharge section 50 for discharging the completed card that has finished the recording process is provided on the downstream side of the first transport path p1. However, as in the second embodiment shown in FIG. The discharge unit 50 may be positioned below the card supply unit 10.
[0050]
That is, a third transport path p3 extending obliquely downward from the intersection X of the first transport path p1 and the second transport path p2 toward the lower side of the card supply unit 10 is provided, and through the opening 50a that is the end of the third transport path p3. The completed card is discharged to the card receiver 51 on the outside of the housing 1. The third transport path p3 is substantially formed by a plurality of pairs of transport rollers r5, but a guide flat plate or the like can be substituted.
[0051]
In the second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the apparatus can be made compact. In the second embodiment, elements having the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment are equivalent or identical components, and the description of these same elements is omitted to avoid redundant description.
[0052]
A second information recording unit can be provided in the third transport path p3 in the second embodiment. FIG. 6 shows a third embodiment having the second information recording unit 20B. That is, in the third embodiment, the first information recording unit 20A is provided in the second conveyance path p2, and the second information recording unit 20B is provided in the third conveyance path p3.
[0053]
The second information recording unit 20B in the third embodiment is an information writing head such as a magnetic encoder for magnetically recording information on a magnetic strap (symbol m in FIG. 1) formed on the card surface found on a credit card or the like. 27.
[0054]
If the recording target is an IC card, the information writing head 27 may be a terminal unit of an IC writer for writing information to an IC chip in the card.
[0055]
The second information recording unit 20B includes an information writing head 27 provided along the third conveyance path p3 and a pair of conveyance rollers 28a and 28b provided on the front and rear sides of the head 27. The components and the magnetic recording method are not limited. Incidentally, in the case of a magnetic encoder, various information writing is usually performed by one-pass card conveyance to the write head 27 according to various processing requests such as initialization of a magnetic strap of the card, magnetic writing, and verification, or A plurality of reciprocal conveyances for a plurality of passes are executed, and the conveyance of these cards can be controlled by rotationally driving the conveyance rollers 28a and 28b in synchronization with the intended processing.
[0056]
In the third embodiment, similarly to the first embodiment, a card discharge section 50 is provided on the downstream side of the first transport path p1. That is, the card discharge unit 50 is provided with an opening 50a at a position corresponding to the first transport path p1 of the housing 1, and a card receiver 51 is provided outside the opening 50a.
[0057]
Further, an opening 60a is provided at a position corresponding to the casing 1 on the extended line of the third transport path p3 to form an error card discarding unit 60. For example, when an error is found in the write information as a result of verifying the write information at the time of writing information with the magnetic encoder which is the second information recording unit 20B, the processing card is set as an error card and the outside of the housing 1 is removed from the opening 60a. To be discharged. A card holder or the like may be attached to the discard unit 60.
[0058]
r6 is a conveyance roller provided between the card reversing unit 30 and the second information recording unit 20B. In the embodiment of FIG. 6, the elements with the same reference numerals in the above embodiment are equivalent or the same elements, and thus redundant description is avoided.
[0059]
In this embodiment, the second transport path p2 is provided with a printer unit as the first information recording unit 20A, and the third transport path p3 is provided with a magnetic encoder and an IC writer as the second information recording unit 20B. Alternatively, as a reverse arrangement, the second information recording unit may be provided in the second conveyance path p2, and the printer unit may be provided in the third conveyance path p3.
[0060]
According to the third embodiment, the second information recording unit 20B is arranged by utilizing the space between the reasonably arranged card supply unit 10 and the first information recording unit 20A. Can be realized.
[0061]
The fourth embodiment shown in FIG. 7 is a recording apparatus which is a modification of the embodiment of FIG. 6, and the first transport path p1 and the second transport path p2 intersect each other at an obtuse angle, and the second transport path is between these transport paths. Three transport paths p3 are formed. That is, the first transport path p1 in which the card supply unit 10 is disposed, the second transport path p2 in which the first information recording unit 20A is disposed, and the third transport path p3 in which the second information recording unit 20B is disposed The basic configuration is that the card reversal part 30 placed at the intersection point X is provided radially.
[0062]
In the fourth embodiment, the second transport path p2 is skewed, the first information recording unit 20A is positioned below the completed card discharge unit 50, and the discarding unit 60 discards the error card below the card supply unit 10. Therefore, the space required for incorporating components can be minimized. As a result, a very rational configuration is realized.
[0063]
In the fourth embodiment, the first information recording unit 20A is a thermal transfer printer unit that prints information on at least one side of the card, and the second information recording unit 20B is a magnetic encoder or IC writer that magnetically records information. These recording methods or configurations are not limited. Alternatively, the second information recording unit 20B may be provided in the second conveyance path p2 and the printer unit may be provided in the third conveyance path p3, as in the above embodiment.
[0064]
Further, as in the fifth embodiment shown in FIG. 8, both of the information recording units 20A and 20B provided in the second conveyance path p2 and the third conveyance path p3 may be constituted by a thermal transfer printer unit.
[0065]
In a recording apparatus including two print units, for example, a single color printing of characters or the like is performed by the printer unit of the first information recording unit 20A, and a multicolor printing such as a color photograph or an image is performed by the printer unit of the second information recording unit 20B. It can be carried out. In this case, the printer unit that performs single color printing stores the ink ribbon Ra continuously applied with a single color (for example, black) heat-melting type thermal transfer ink in the ink cartridge 23A of the first information recording unit 20A and the second information. Thermal sublimation type thermal transfer ink of a required number of colors (for example, yellow, magenta, cyan capable of reproducing full color) is printed on the ink cartridge 23B of the recording unit 20B for each frame having a length corresponding to the length of the printing surface of the card. The ink ribbon Rb applied in order is stored. Furthermore, in order to laminate a transparent protective seal on the surface of the card on which image printing has been completed by thermal transfer, it is also possible to attach a transparent protective seal material to a part of one of the ink ribbons. These thermal transfer printing methods may be applied with conventional techniques and are not particularly limited in the present invention.
[0066]
In the fifth embodiment, an error card discarding section is not particularly provided. However, as can be seen in the above embodiment, an opening for card discarding is provided at a position corresponding to the casing 1 on the extension line of the third conveyance path as necessary. It may be provided. Also in this embodiment, elements having the same reference numerals as those in the previous embodiment are equivalent or identical elements.
[0067]
The sixth embodiment shown in FIG. 9 is a recording apparatus in which the basic configuration in which the first, second, and third transport paths, which are the concept of the present invention, are radially arranged around the card reversing portion is further modified. . That is, the card reversing unit 30 is positioned in the middle of the first conveyance path p1 extending substantially horizontally from the card supply unit 10, and the second conveyance is performed with the rotation axis of the rotation frame 32 of the card reversing unit 30 as the center (intersection) X. The path p2 is formed obliquely downward from the center X, and the third transport path p3 is formed obliquely upward from the center X.
[0068]
Here, a thermal transfer printer unit is arranged as the first information recording unit 20A in the second conveyance path p2, and a magnetic encoder is arranged as the second information recording unit 20B in the third conveyance path p3.
[0069]
The completed card discharge unit 50 is positioned at the opposite end (downstream end) of the card supply unit 10 with respect to the intersection X of the first transport path p1. In this embodiment, a path extending from the intersection X to the lower side of the card supply unit 10 is defined as a card discard path p4 for discarding an error card. Similar to the above embodiment, when an error is detected in the card processing by any of the processing units, the error card is discharged from the opening 60a to the card receiver 61 through the card discard path p4.
[0070]
Also in this embodiment, elements having the same reference numerals as those in the above embodiment are equivalent or identical elements, and redundant description is avoided.
[0071]
According to the sixth embodiment, all components including the card supply unit 10, the first information recording unit 20A, the second information recording unit 20B, the card discharge unit 50, and the card discarding unit 60 are centered on the card reversing unit 30. Thus, the multi-function device capable of recording various information on a card can be compactly configured because it is intensively arranged along the first transport path p1, the second transport path p2, and the third transport path p3 arranged radially. be able to.
[0072]
In the illustrated embodiment, the first conveyance path p1 provided with the card supply unit 10 is arranged substantially horizontally. However, the first conveyance path does not necessarily have to be substantially horizontal. In addition, an appropriate angle can be provided, and the angle can be configured so as not to interfere with the information recording unit provided in another conveyance path according to the inclined state of the first conveyance path.
[0073]
As described above, according to the present invention, the card supply unit And cleaner to clean cards The first conveyance path provided with the first information recording section intersects the second conveyance path provided with the first information recording section substantially orthogonally, and the third conveyance path provided with the second information recording section intersects with the first conveyance path. The card reversing unit is provided at the second and third intersections, and the card reversing unit is supplied from the card supply unit. Through the cleaner Since the card is rotated to send the card to the second conveyance path to the third conveyance path, the card supply section secures a sufficient storage capacity of the blank card, and the card conveyance performance, printing, and encoding are provided. Thus, it is possible to provide a card recording apparatus that can be made compact without degrading a plurality of processing capacities, and that has improved the degree of freedom in the layout design of each component. In addition, since a card reversing section is provided at the intersection of multiple transport paths, various information can be efficiently recorded on the front and back of the card, which is a recording medium, and such functions can be stably and reliably performed with a simple drive / control system. Can be executed. Moreover, according to the present invention, each operating element can be rationally controlled with a minimum driving source, so that a plurality of recording media can be processed with high efficiency without interfering with each other.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view partially illustrating a card recording apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic front view showing a first embodiment of a card recording apparatus of the present invention having card conveying paths arranged substantially orthogonally.
FIGS. 3A and 3B are explanatory views showing a card processing process in the recording apparatus of the first embodiment. FIGS.
FIGS. 4A and 4B are explanatory diagrams showing a card processing process in the recording apparatus of the first embodiment.
FIG. 5 is a schematic front view showing a second embodiment of the card recording apparatus of the present invention having card transport paths arranged substantially orthogonally.
FIG. 6 is a schematic front view showing a third embodiment of the recording apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a schematic front view showing a fourth embodiment of the recording apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a schematic front view showing a fifth embodiment of the recording apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a schematic front view showing a sixth embodiment of the recording apparatus of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
C Recording medium (card)
p1 First transport path
p2 Second transport path
p3 3rd transport path
X intersection
10 Card supply section
13 Opening and closing lid
13a Card alignment piece
20 Information recording section
20A 1st information recording part
20B Second information recording unit
21 Platen roller
22 Thermal head
30 Card reversing part
40 cleaner
50 Card ejector

Claims (6)

A card supply unit provided on the first transport path for storing one or more cards and sending the cards one by one to the first transport path;
A first information recording unit that prints information on a card that is provided on a second conveyance path that intersects the first conveyance path substantially orthogonally;
A second information recording unit provided on a third conveyance path intersecting the first conveyance path and recording information on a card;
A card reversing unit for rotating the card provided at the intersection of the first, second and third transport paths ;
A cleaner provided on the first conveyance path between the card supply unit and the card reversing unit to clean the card ,
The card recording apparatus, wherein the card reversing unit rotates the card supplied from the card supply unit and passed through the cleaner, and sends the card to the second conveyance path to the third conveyance path.   The card recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the card reversing unit includes a roller that holds the card and can rotate forward and backward. Card recording apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that a card discharge section for discharging the cards to the end of the first conveying path. Card recording apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that a card discharge section for discharging the cards to the end of the third conveying path. The first information recording portion is a thermal transfer printer unit, card recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the second information recording portion is a magnetic encoder. The first information recording portion is a thermal transfer printer unit, card recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein the second information recording unit is characterized in that the IC writer.

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