JP2002056606A - Magnetic card reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a magnetic card reader capable of effectively preventing a magnetic card from being fraudelently forged. SOLUTION: This magnetic card reader 40 is provided with a plurality of magnetic heads 41 for reading magnetic data recorded on a plurality of tracks of the magnetic card. An amplifier 42 amplifies data read by the heads 41, a demodulator circuit 43 demodulates the data, an enciphering circuit 44 subsequently enciphers the data and the data are transmitted to a system 50 through a cable 60. Thus, the fabrication of the magnetic card such as a credit card is avoided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a magnetic card reader,
In particular, the present invention relates to a magnetic card reader for reading a magnetic card with an encryption function used for credit card settlement and debit card settlement.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A magnetic card cannot be easily read unless a special reader is used, and once written data is kept semi-permanently and is small (thin) which is convenient for carrying. Widely used in cards and the like. A magnetic card reader (magnetic card reader) is used to read such a magnetic card.

A system using a conventional magnetic card reader has a configuration as shown in a block diagram of FIG. That is, the magnetic card reader (hereinafter, sometimes simply referred to as a card reader) 10 and the system 20 are interconnected by the cable 30. In general, the cable 30 is connected to both the card reader 10 and the system 20 via a connector (not shown) for convenience in manufacturing and maintenance. The card reader 10 has a plurality (three in this example) of magnetic heads 11, an amplifier (AMP) 12, a demodulation circuit 13, and a driver 14 corresponding to the number of tracks. A power supply and a ground (GND) are provided on the system 20 side, and supply necessary power to the card reader 10 via the cable 30. The cable 30 has (for example, 3 × 3 = 9) individual signal lines for transmitting signals of tracks detected by the plurality of magnetic heads 11.

Here, in order to extract data from a genuine magnetic card and forge a magnetic card, it is necessary to access raw data. Common conventional techniques to prevent this include a technique of providing a switch for detecting that the device has been disassembled, cutting off the power supply to the memory upon detection, a technique of intentionally making the connection of the address bus irregular, and a special screw. And the like, to make the disassembly difficult, and to attach the joint of the housing or attach a special seal.

[0005]

However, a system using a magnetic card reader currently used has the following problems. First, none of the prior arts can reliably prevent forgery. There are many troubles that pretend to be a customer by stealing data from a customer's magnetic card (this is called skimming) and writing the stolen data on a finely crafted raw magnetic card to create a counterfeit card.

In particular, since a credit card has no security by inputting a personal identification number, a counterfeit card is easily used. The actual method (method) of such trouble (skimming) is considered as follows. A skimming device that intercepts data in a magnetic card from a signal cable in a cable 30 through which a raw signal of each track is transmitted from a connector of a card reader is embedded inside a regular device installed in a store. At this time, since the card reader device is operating normally, data is stolen without noticing not only the operator but also the customer. At a later date, the stolen magnetic card data is collected together with the skimming device. None of the conventional forgery prevention means described above is sufficient for certainty or other reasons.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic card reader capable of effectively and reliably preventing the skimming described above.

[0008]

The magnetic card reader according to the present invention employs the following characteristic configuration.

(1) In a magnetic card reader for reading magnetic data recorded on a magnetic card such as a credit card by a magnetic head and transmitting the magnetic data to a data processing system via a communication medium, the data read by the magnetic head is read. A magnetic card reader that demodulates the data in a demodulation circuit, encrypts the data in an encryption circuit, and sends the data to the communication medium.

(2) The magnetic card reader according to (1), wherein a plurality of the magnetic heads are used in accordance with the number of tracks of the magnetic card, and are converted by a serial-parallel conversion circuit and then encrypted by the encryption circuit. .

(3) The encryption circuit includes a CPU connected to the serial-parallel conversion circuit via a data bus for controlling and outputting encrypted data, a memory for storing a program, etc., and a memory for encrypting detected data. The magnetic card reader according to the above (2), which includes an encryption LSI for performing processing.

(4) The magnetic card reader according to (1), wherein the communication medium is a cable.

(5) The magnetic card reader according to (1), wherein the communication medium is a wireless line.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The configuration and operation of a preferred embodiment of a magnetic card reader according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a preferred embodiment of a magnetic card reader according to the present invention. The magnetic card reader 40 includes a plurality (three) of magnetic heads 41, an amplifier (AMP) 42, a demodulation circuit 43, and an encryption circuit 44. From the encryption circuit 44, three signal lines of the track 1/2/3 encrypted from the three signal lines 61 to 63, a power line 64 and a ground (GND) line 65 are connected to the cable 60. And interconnects the card reader 40 and the system 50.

The magnetic head 41 is a magnetic head that reads data recorded on a plurality of tracks of a magnetic card (not shown) by predetermined modulation. Such a magnetic head 41
Can be a conventional configuration, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted. The amplifier (AMP) 42 is an amplifier having a conventional configuration for amplifying a small detection signal detected by the magnetic head 41 to a predetermined amplitude. The demodulation circuit 43 demodulates the detection signal amplified by the amplifier 42 and reproduces recorded data. The encryption circuit 44 encrypts the detection data demodulated by the demodulation circuit 43 with the encryption circuit 44 described later with reference to FIG. 3 and transmits the data through the three signal lines 61 to 63 of the cable 60 to the data processing system. Transmit to the 50 side.

As described above, the conventional magnetic card reader 1
0 and the system (data processing device) 20
0, and the raw data of the magnetic card flows on the cable 30. Therefore, they are subject to skimming. However, in the magnetic card reader 40 of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, the encrypted data is flowed on the cable 60 without flowing the raw data of the magnetic card. As a result, even if the data is stolen by skimming, the contents of the data cannot be decrypted, so that damage due to forgery of the magnetic card can be prevented.

Further, by providing the encryption circuit 44 in the magnetic card reader 40, even if the magnetic card reader 40 with encryption is replaced with a normal magnetic card reader and forgery is attempted, the magnetic card reader 40 will not transmit the magnetic card reader. Raw data is sent to the system (data processing device),
The encryption cannot be decrypted. As a result, the system (terminal)
Will not work properly. That is, the magnetic card reader 40 does not operate normally with a forged magnetic card based on the encrypted data from the magnetic card reader 40 of the present invention. At this time, the operator or the customer can be notified of the abnormality, so that the damage of skimming can be prevented beforehand.

FIG. 2 shows a detailed configuration of the encryption circuit 44 in the magnetic card reader 40 shown in FIG. The encryption circuit 44 includes a serial-parallel (serial-parallel) conversion circuit 44a, a CPU (central processing unit) 44b, a memory (storage device) 44c, an encryption LSI 44d, and a data bus 44e interconnecting these components 44a to 44d. It is composed of

The serial-to-parallel conversion circuit 44a performs serial-to-parallel conversion on the signals detected and demodulated for a plurality of tracks output from the demodulation circuit 43. CPU4
4b performs control and processing of each component, and
The encrypted data is transmitted to the system 50 via the signal lines 61 to 63. The memory 44c stores or stores programs and data for controlling the operation of the CPU 44b. The encryption LSI 44d encrypts data on the data bus 44e by a predetermined encryption means. Since various methods have been proposed for encryption, it is possible to appropriately select from known encryption methods.

The configuration and operation of the preferred embodiment of the magnetic card reader according to the present invention have been described above in detail. However, it should be noted that such embodiments are merely examples of the present invention and do not limit the present invention in any way. It will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and changes can be made in accordance with the particular application without departing from the spirit of the invention.

For example, the cable 60 does not need to be a normal cable, but may be any other medium as long as it is a signal transmission medium, and an optical, wireless, or sound wave utilizing line can be used. In addition, it goes without saying that any other information recording medium such as an IC card may be used instead of the magnetic card.

[0023]

As will be understood from the above description, the magnetic card reader of the present invention has the following practically significant effects. That is, according to the magnetic card reader of the present invention, if the encrypted true data from the magnetic card reader cannot be decrypted by the CPU, it cannot be used as a normal magnetic card. Therefore, the operator and the customer can easily judge a counterfeit product, and damage can be prevented beforehand.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a preferred embodiment of a magnetic card reader according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing award reconstruction of an encryption circuit of the magnetic card reader shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional magnetic card reader.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 40 magnetic card reader 41 magnetic head 42 amplifier 43 demodulation circuit 44 encryption circuit 50 system (data processing device) 60 cable 44a serial-parallel conversion circuit 44b CPU 44c memory 44d encryption LSI 44e data bus

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5B072 AA09 BB00 CC27 DD05 FF02 MM02 MM11 5D044 AB10 BC01 CC08 GK17 HL11 5D091 AA12 BB06 FF10 HH02 HH04 JJ21 5J104 AA01 AA47 NA34 PA00

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A magnetic card reader for reading magnetic data recorded on a magnetic card such as a credit card by a magnetic head and transmitting the data to a data processing system via a communication medium, wherein the data read by the magnetic head is demodulated. A magnetic card reader which demodulates the data in a circuit, encrypts the data in an encryption circuit, and sends the encrypted data to the communication medium. 2. The magnetic head according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of said magnetic heads are used in accordance with the number of tracks of said magnetic card, and are converted by a serial-parallel conversion circuit and then encrypted by said encryption circuit. A magnetic card reader as described. 3. The encryption circuit includes a CPU connected to the serial-to-parallel conversion circuit via a data bus, which performs control and outputs encrypted data, a memory for storing a program and the like, and a process of encrypting detected data. 3. The magnetic card reader according to claim 2, further comprising an encryption LSI for performing the following. 4. The magnetic card reader according to claim 1, wherein said communication medium is a cable. 5. The magnetic card reader according to claim 1, wherein the communication medium is a wireless line.