JP2007241538A - Ic card reader/writer system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an IC card reader/writer suitable for constructing an IC card settlement system for collecting a certain fixed amount such as the admission fee of a facility by an IC card. <P>SOLUTION: This IC card reader/writer system 10 is configured to collect electronic money of a predetermined amount from electronic money charged to an IC card by performing radio communication with the IC card held over an antenna part 11, and to collect only the amount to be displayed at a fixed use amount display part 13 of a display panel part 12. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an IC card reader / writer system suitable for constructing an IC card settlement system that collects a predetermined amount of money, such as an entrance fee for a facility, using an IC card.

  In recent years, recyclable IC cards have begun to be used for bidding and ticketing of automatic ticket gates in public transportation. Such an IC card is a non-contact type IC card that is set to perform wireless communication in a non-contact manner with a card reader / writer built in an automatic ticket gate or the like. Value information and money amount information for prepaid the ticket are written, which is called “Suica (registered trademark)”, and is beginning to spread widely as a commuter pass or a stored fair type ticket.

  Since such IC cards have begun to spread to places owned by many users of public transportation facilities, a function is provided for making decisions such as shopping and services using stored fair (electronic money) stored in the IC card. Attempts have been made to further enhance the convenience of users by giving them to the IC card. By the way, on the store side, in order to construct a sales system having an electronic money settlement function using an IC card, an IC card reader / writer module and a device for setting an amount to be withdrawn from the IC card using the IC card reader / writer module. Need to be introduced.

As a sales system having such a settlement function using an IC card, for example, in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-165559), the sales information of the product can be obtained from a barcode attached to the product by a customer operation. A self-reading bar code reader and a self-touch panel that displays the name of a product as a touch button and a customer touches the touch button to read sales information of the corresponding product, and has a POS function And a control unit that aggregates and manages the sales information of the products sold based on the sales information received from the self-use barcode reader and the sales information received from the self-use touch panel. A sales management system is disclosed.
JP 2005-165559 A

  In the merchandise sales management system disclosed in Patent Document 1, in addition to the IC card reader / writer module, the merchandise sold together with either a self barcode reader for reading merchandise sales information or a self touch panel for reading sales information. It is necessary to provide a control unit for collecting and managing sales information, and it has a very complicated structure. Conventionally, as a sales system having an electronic money settlement function using the simplest IC card, for example, the one shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an external appearance of a configuration of a sales system having a settlement function using a conventional IC card. Such a sales system is constituted by a money amount input terminal 30 and an IC card reader / writer system 20, each of which is appropriately connected by a cable 25 by an interface method. The money input terminal 30 is provided with a plurality of operation buttons 32 and a liquid crystal display unit 31, and a printer unit 34 for issuing a receipt or the like at the rear end of the main body. Further, if necessary, a card reader unit 33 is arranged in the vertical direction of the main body in order to cope with a conventional credit card or the like. The IC card reader / writer system 20 is provided with an antenna unit 21 for exchanging information with the IC card in a non-contact manner, and a display panel unit 22 for showing the usage amount and the balance charged in the IC card. Further, the IC card reader / writer system 20 is configured to be able to inquire the information related to the IC card read by the IC card reader / writer system 20 to a management system for the entire IC card (not shown) through a line (not shown). .

  In using such a sales system, the sales clerk first sets the usage amount in the usage amount display unit 23 of the display panel unit 22 by operating the operation button 32 according to the price of the product. Thereafter, the customer's IC card is held over the antenna unit 21 to read the information related to the IC card and communicate with the management system based on the information, and the IC card is illegally used. If the balance more than the amount set for the IC card is charged, the set amount is withdrawn, and the card balance after the withdrawal is displayed on the card balance display unit 24.

  The above is the sales system having the simplest IC card settlement function that is currently used, but the need for a simpler IC card settlement system than such a system has recently emerged. It is an IC card settlement system that corresponds to the case where a certain amount of entrance fee is collected by an IC card, for example, entrance to a museum or entrance to a pay toilet facility. In such a usage mode, it is not necessary to manually input the collected amount by the amount input terminal 30 sequentially. However, in the conventional IC card reader / writer system 20, since the amount input terminal 30 for setting the usage amount is indispensable, an IC card settlement system having the amount input terminal 30 is assembled even for a simple fixed amount withdrawal. There is a problem that it is necessary and the system becomes expensive.

  In order to solve such problems, an invention according to claim 1 is an IC card reader / writer that collects a predetermined amount of electronic money from electronic money charged in the IC card by performing wireless communication with the IC card. In the system, it is set to collect only a predetermined amount of electronic money.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an IC card reader / writer system for collecting a predetermined amount of electronic money from electronic money charged in the IC card by performing wireless communication with the IC card. It has a storage unit for storing, and is configured to collect only the amount of electronic money stored in the storage unit.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an IC card reader / writer system for collecting a predetermined amount of electronic money from electronic money charged in the IC card by performing wireless communication with the IC card. And collecting electronic money for one amount out of a plurality of fixed amounts stored in the storage unit in accordance with the attribute information of the IC card collecting electronic money. It is characterized by being set to.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the IC card reader / writer system according to any one of the first to third aspects, after collecting electronic money from the IC card, the same IC card is collected for a certain period of time. It is characterized by prohibiting reception.

  In the present invention, since the IC card reader / writer system is set to collect only a predetermined amount of electronic money, a fixed amount can be obtained from the IC card without using a conventionally required amount input terminal. Therefore, the system configuration for constructing the IC card payment system can be made simple and inexpensive.

  Also, after collecting electronic money from an IC card, it is possible to prevent troubles such as double withdrawal by prohibiting reception of the same IC card for a certain period of time.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external view of an IC card reader / writer system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The IC card reader / writer system 10 according to the present embodiment can constitute a system having an IC card settlement function by the IC card reader / writer system 10 alone. The IC card reader / writer system 10 includes an antenna unit 11 for exchanging information with the IC card in a non-contact manner, and a display panel unit 12 for indicating the usage amount and the balance charged in the IC card. However, the difference from the conventional IC card reader / writer system 20 is that the usage amount in the usage amount display section of the display panel unit 12 is set to a fixed amount. That is, the usage amount display unit of the display panel unit 12 is a fixed usage amount display unit 13 in which the usage amount is fixed at, for example, 100 yen in this embodiment.

  With reference to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the difference between the settlement system constructed by the conventional IC card reader / writer system 20 and the settlement system constructed by the IC card reader / writer system 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. . FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of a settlement system using a conventional IC card reader / writer system. FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of a payment system using the IC card reader / writer system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  As described above, as shown in FIG. 2, the settlement system using the conventional IC card reader / writer system includes the money amount setting terminal 30 and the IC card reader / writer system 20. The amount setting terminal 30 is configured to input information indicating the amount of money to be processed for payment to the IC card.

  The control unit 27 is configured to control the money amount setting terminal 30 and each hardware unit. Specifically, the control unit 27 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a memory, various interface circuits, and the like. And stored in the housing of the IC card reader / writer system 20. In FIG. 2, the hardware unit controlled by the control unit 27 is shown as if only the antenna unit 21 and the display panel unit 22, but the control unit 27 may include other audio output units and the like. It also controls the hardware part. Here, description of other hardware units is omitted.

  The antenna unit 21 includes an antenna for transmitting and receiving wireless signals when performing wireless communication (non-contact communication) with the IC card, and a circuit for transmitting and receiving wireless signals according to the control of the control unit 27. The display panel unit 22 is a display for displaying the amount of money to be settled for the IC card and the balance of electronic money information accumulated in the IC card.

  The control unit 27 is also connected to a wired or wireless communication line (not shown), and exchanges information with a management system including a host computer that manages electronic money information of the IC card via the communication line. Can be done.

  In the payment system using the IC card reader / writer system of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the amount collected by the IC card reader / writer system 10 is an amount storage configured by using a part of memory or the like of the control unit 17. It is stored in the part 16 and there is no need to use the money amount setting terminal 30 as in the prior art. By providing such an amount storage unit 16 in the IC card reader / writer system 10, the amount to be settled with the IC card is fixed, but it is sequentially input using the amount setting terminal 30 as in the past. The work to do can be omitted. Therefore, in the payment system using the IC card reader / writer system 10 of the present embodiment, the money amount setting terminal 30 can be omitted, and an IC card approval system can be easily constructed at low cost. As described above, according to the present embodiment, an IC card settlement system that collects a predetermined amount of entrance fee with an IC card, such as entrance to a museum or entrance to a pay toilet facility, is provided. The writer system 10 can be constructed by itself.

  In the present embodiment, the amount stored in the amount storage unit 16 is displayed on the fixed usage amount display unit 13 of the display panel unit 12 by the control unit 17. Thereby, the facility user can know the usage fee of the pay facility. Further, the money amount storage unit 16 is configured to be rewritable, and can cope with, for example, a change in usage fee of a pay facility.

  The other operations of the control unit 17, the antenna unit 11, and the display panel unit 12 of the IC card reader / writer system 10 of the present embodiment are the same as those of the conventional control unit 27, antenna unit 21, and display panel unit 22, respectively. In addition, the control unit 17 is connected to a wired or wireless communication line (not shown), and exchanges information with a management system including a host computer that manages electronic money information of the IC card via the control unit 17. The point which can be performed is also the same as that of the control part 27.

  Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of a payment system using an IC card reader / writer system according to another embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment is different from the previous embodiment in that the amount is set and stored in the amount storage unit 16 ', but the amount can be plural. In the example illustrated in FIG. 4, the money amount storage unit 16 ′ includes two parts, a “first money amount storage unit” and a “second money amount storage unit”. In the present embodiment, charges are collected using the amount information set in the “first amount storage unit” according to the attribute information set in the IC cart held over the antenna unit 12 of the IC card reader / writer system 10. The control unit 17 is configured to determine whether to collect the fee using the amount information set in the “second amount storage unit”. A more specific usage method of the money amount storage unit 16 ′ in the present embodiment will be described. Certain kinds of attribute information are set in the IC card. As such attribute information, for example, whether the owner of the IC card is “adult” or “child”, or “male” or “female” can be considered. As an example, it is assumed that the attribute information of the IC card is set to whether the owner is “adult” or “child”. In the IC card reader / writer system 10 of the present embodiment, when an IC card having attribute information of “adult” is held over the antenna unit 12, the amount of the “first amount storage unit” (for example, 100 yen) ) Is collected, and when the IC card having the attribute information “children” is held over the antenna unit 12, the amount of the “second amount storage unit” (for example, 50 yen) is collected. Set as follows. As described above, in the IC card reader / writer system 10 of the present embodiment, one amount information is selected from among a plurality of amount information set in the amount storage unit 16 ′ according to the attribute information of the IC card, Since the amount is collected from the IC card, depending on the owner of the IC card, for example, it is possible to collect two types of fees, adult fee or child fee. A wide approval system can be constructed.

  Next, a specific example of constructing an IC card settlement system using the IC card reader / writer system 10 of the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 illustrates an example in which an automatic door 51 for a pay toilet facility opens when a user performs IC card approval using the IC card reader / writer system 10 according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 5, a dotted line 50 indicates a configuration provided in the pay toilet facility, a dotted line 60 indicates a configuration provided in the remote maintenance unit, and a dotted line 40 indicates a configuration provided in the IC card management system. The IC card management system 40 is a system for managing and grasping electronic money information, usage status, etc. of all issued IC cards, and directly with the IC card reader / writer system 10 having tamper resistance. It is configured to communicate over a reserved line. This IC card management system 40 is issued by an IC card and managed by a company operating the IC card business. On the other hand, the remote maintenance section 60 is for the purpose of managing sales and the like in the pay toilet facility itself, and is managed by a pay facility establishment contractor such as a pay toilet facility.

  The main components provided on the pay toilet facility 50 side are the IC card reader / writer system 10 in which the user holds his / her IC card, the automatic door 51 that opens when the approval by the IC card is completed, and the opening / closing of the automatic door 51 itself is controlled. There are an automatic door control unit 52 that performs communication, a main control unit 53 that instructs an automatic door opening / closing command to the automatic door control unit 52, and a communication control unit 54 that manages communication with the outside.

  The IC card reader / writer system 10 is connected to the main control unit 53 through a communication line 56 and to the communication control unit 54 through a communication line 55. The automatic door control unit 52 is connected to the main control unit 53 via a communication line 57. The main control unit 53 is connected to the communication control unit 54 via a communication line 58. The communication control unit 54 is connected to a personal computer 61 and a communication line 62 of the remote maintenance unit 60, as shown in the figure. The IC card management host computer 41 of the card management system 40 is connected by a communication line 42.

  As the main controller 53, for example, a maintenance-free FA box personal computer using a silicon disk instead of a hard disk drive or the like is suitable. Further, it is preferable to use a dial-up router as the communication control unit 54 and to use a dedicated line such as an INS line or a PHS line for the communication line 54 connecting the communication control unit 54 and the IC card management host computer 41. A communication line 62 that connects the communication control unit 54 and the personal computer 61 of the remote maintenance unit 60 may be a line that is not so secure, such as the Internet.

  The operation of the approval system for the pay toilet facility configured as described above will be described. When a user who wants to use the pay toilet facility 50 holds the IC card over the IC card reader / writer system 10, information related to the user's IC card is read. This information is transmitted to the IC card management host computer 41 of the IC card management system 40 via the communication line 55, the communication control unit 54, and the communication line 62, so that the IC card may be illegally used. Etc. are checked. If it is confirmed that the IC card has not been used illegally, if the IC card is charged with a balance equal to or greater than the fee for using the chargeable toilet facility, the amount equivalent to the facility usage fee will be calculated from the IC card. The card balance after withdrawal is displayed on the card balance display unit 14 of the IC card reader / writer system 10.

  The completion of such approval is transmitted from the IC card reader / writer system 10 via the line 56 to the main control unit 53 as an approval completion signal. The main control unit 53 that has received this signal instructs the automatic door control unit 52 to open an automatic door via the communication line 57. And the automatic door control part 52 which received this opening command controls so that the automatic door 51 may be opened. In addition to controlling the operation, the main control unit 53 is also programmed to manage a log of usage status of the pay toilet facility 50, and this log is transmitted via the communication control unit 54. The remote maintenance unit 60 is also configured so that it can be viewed from the personal computer 61. With such a configuration, the pay facility establishment person can grasp the use status of the pay toilet facility 50 on the personal computer 61 and easily count the sale status of the facility while being remotely located. ing.

It is preferable that the IC card reader / writer system 10 is set so that the same IC card is not removed twice. This can be realized in the control unit 17 of the IC card reader / writer system 10 by setting a process for prohibiting reception of the same IC card for 3 minutes using a timer, for example. This setting prevents multiple withdrawals from the IC card if the user accidentally continues the IC card and holds it over the antenna unit 11 of the IC card reader / writer system 10. It is to do.

1 is an external view of an IC card reader / writer system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows roughly the structure of the settlement system using the conventional IC card reader / writer system. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of a settlement system using an IC card reader / writer system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows roughly the structure of the payment system using the IC card reader / writer system which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the specific example which constructs | assembles an IC card payment system using the IC card reader / writer system 10 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the external appearance of the structure of the sales system which has the settlement function by the conventional IC card.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... IC card reader / writer system, 11 ... Antenna part, 12 ... Display panel part, 13 ... Fixed use amount display part, 14 ... Card balance display part, 16, 16 '... Amount storage unit, 17 ... control unit, 20 ... IC card reader / writer system, 21 ... antenna unit, 22 ... display panel unit, 23 ... use amount display unit, 24 ... Card balance display unit, 25 ... cable unit, 27 ... control unit, 30 ... amount input terminal, 31 ... liquid crystal display unit, 32 ... operation button, 33 ... card reader unit 33 , 34... Printer unit, 40... IC card management system, 41... IC card management host computer, 42... Communication line, 50. 52 ... Automatic door control unit 53 ... Main control unit, 54 ... Communication control unit, 55, 56, 57, 58 ... Communication line, 60 ... Remote maintenance unit, 61 ... Personal computer, 62 ... Communication Line

Claims (4)

In an IC card reader / writer system that collects a predetermined amount of electronic money from electronic money charged to the IC card by performing wireless communication with the IC card,
An IC card reader / writer system which is set to collect only a predetermined amount of electronic money. In an IC card reader / writer system that collects a predetermined amount of electronic money from electronic money charged to the IC card by performing wireless communication with the IC card,
An IC card reader / writer system characterized in that it has a storage unit for storing a fixed amount, and is set so as to only collect electronic money for the amount stored in the storage unit. In an IC card reader / writer system that collects a predetermined amount of electronic money from electronic money charged to the IC card by performing wireless communication with the IC card,
Electronic money for one amount out of a plurality of fixed amounts stored in the storage unit according to the attribute information of the IC card that collects a plurality of fixed amounts and collecting electronic money IC card reader / writer system, which is set to collect 4. The IC card reader / writer system according to claim 1, wherein reception of the same IC card is prohibited for a predetermined time after electronic money is collected from the IC card.

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