Card reader apparatus with replacable card guide

• US 5,266,789 A
• Filed: 11/17/1992
• Issued: 11/30/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/1990
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verifone, Inc. (Verifone Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Anglin, Noah L., Hludzinski, Stanley J.
• Primary Examiner(s): PITTS, HAROLD I
• Application Number:
  US07/977,546
• Time in Patent Office: 378 Days
• Field of Search: 235/449, 235/482, 235/483, 360/2
• US Class Current: 235/483
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 13/06 Guiding cards; Checking correct operation of card-conveying mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/015 Aligning or centering of the sensing device with respect to the record carrier

Abstract

A point of sale terminal having a reader assembly for reading a data card having data stored on at least one data track thereon. The terminal includes a housing defining a guide slot location for the data carrier and a transducer for detecting data stored on the data track. A removable guide element is mounted to the housing at the data carrier slot location. This guide element has at least a bottom wall portion defining a bottom guide surface of a guide slot for the data card and one major side wall portion defining one side guide surface of a guide slot. An access window is formed in the major side wall portion. A mounting arrangement mounts the transducer at a prearranged location within the access window for accurate detection of data stored on the data track as the data card is manually swiped through the guide slot.

Claims

1. In apparatus having a reader assembly for reading a data carrier having data stored on at least one data track thereon,

housing means defining a guide slot for said data carrier including a guide slot entry section and a guide slot exit section with a central guide slot gap extending therebetween;

a data carrier reader subassembly mounted to said housing means at said central guide slot gap and comprising;

transducer means for detecting said data stored on said data track of said data carrier;

a separate guide slot section removably mounted to said housing means within said central guide slot gap and cooperating with said guide slot entry section and said guide slot exit section to form a complete and continuous guide slot for said data carrier, one major side wall portion of said guide slot section having an access window formed therein to provide communication between said transducer means and a data carrier being swiped through said guide slot; and

mounting means for mounting said transducer means on said one major side wall portion of said guide slot section;

each of said guide slot defined by said housing and said separate guide slot section having respective edge portions comprising cooperative structural means for providing a slide-in mounting arrangement therebetween.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said housing means and said separate guide slot section each have edge wall portions forming a cooperative slide-in mounting arrangement for said separate guide slot section in said central guide slot gap.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said edge wall portions form a cooperative tongue and groove mounting arrangement.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein

said guide slot defined by said housing means includes one complete, continuous side wall of said guide slot and said central guide slot gap comprises a central gap in the bottom wall and an opposing side wall;

and

said separate guide slot section comprises a single side wall section and a bottom wall section which fill said central gap in said bottom wall and said opposing side wall formed by said housing means, said access window being formed in said single side wall section, and said mounting means mounting said transducer means on said single side wall section.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein

said central guide slot gap defined by said housing means comprises central apertures in opposing side wall portions and a bottom wall portion of said guide slot;

and

said separate guide slot section comprises a pair of opposing side wall sections and a bottom wall section which together fill said central apertures in said opposing side wall and bottom wall portions of said guide slot defined by said housing means, one of said opposing side wall sections of said separate guide slot section having said access window formed therein and having said transducer means mounted thereon by said mounting means.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein

said data carrier has first and second separated data tracks thereon at prearranged first and second distances from a bottom edge of said carrier;

said transducer means includes at least one read element for reading one of said data tracks and being positioned at a prearranged location;

said mounting means comprises a bracket means and fastener means for selectively mounting said bracket means on said one major side wall portion of said guide slot section in one of a first orientation and second orientation inverted from said first orientation, said fastener means cooperating with said to define a reference mounting line relative to each of said bracket means and said guide slot section at a prearranged distance from a bottom wall section thereof, said prearranged distance corresponding substantially to the average of said first and second distances, said bracket means carrying said transducer means in a prearranged position with said one read element displaced from said reference mounting line by a prearranged displacement distance corresponding substantially to one half the difference between said first and second distances, whereby said one read element is positioned to read said first data track when said bracket means is mounted in said first orientation and said one read element is positioned to read said second data track when said bracket means is mounted in said second orientation.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein

said data carrier is a plastic data card having a magnetic data track thereon;

said transducer means comprises a read head for detecting magnetically encoded data on said magnetic track;

said access window in said separate guide slot section comprises an aperture for said read head and said separate guide slot section further comprises a pair of location apertures formed therein adjacent said access aperture; and

said mounting means comprises;

a leaf spring means carrying said read head and having a pair of mounting apertures on end portions thereof; and

clamp means for mounting said leaf spring element and said read head carried thereon to said guide slot section, said clamp means including a pair of spring mounting means cooperating with said mounting apertures in said leaf spring means and said location apertures to mount said read head in a registered location in said access aperture, said leaf spring urging a front surface of said read head into said guide slot and into contact with the surface of a magnetic track on a card being manually swiped through said guide slot.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein

said magnetic track on said data card defines three separated magnetic data track locations;

said read head has two separated magnetic pick up heads for simultaneously detecting magnetically encoded data on two of said three separated magnetic data track locations; and

said location apertures in said guide slot section, said mounting apertures in said leaf spring element and said spring mounting means on said clamp means being positioned such that said leaf spring element and said clamp means may be mounted to said guide slot section in one of respectively inverted first and second orientations, said first orientation positioning said magnetic pick up heads on said read head for detecting data on the upper two of said magnetic data track locations as said data card is manually swiped through said guide slot, and said second orientation positioning said magnetic pick up heads on said read head for detecting data on the lower two of said magnetic data track locations as said data card is manually swiped through said guide slot.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein

said data carrier is a plastic card carrying said data track thereon and having at least one data track of prearranged width defined on said data track;

said transducer means includes a detector element having a data pick up area with a height dimension generally comparable to said prearranged width of said data track; and

said guide slot section includes a bottom wall portion having an upper surface tapering downwardly from a point directly underneath said transducer means such that a data card being swiped through said guide slot has accurate registration between said detector element and said data track for accurate detection of data thereon regardless of variations in the angle of swiping of said data card.

10. A data terminal including a card reader for reading a data card having a magnetic stripe thereon and defining at least one magnetically encoded data track at

a prearranged location on said magnetic stripe, said terminal comprising:

a housing means, including a guide slot for said data card, being formed by injection molding a first plastic material, said guide slot including first and second opposing side wall members and a bottom wall member with a central guide slot gap formed in at least one of said opposing side wall members and said bottom wall member; and

a card reader assembly mounted to said housing means at said central guide slot gap and comprising;

a read head having a magnetic transducer element carried on a front face thereof for detecting data on said magnetically encoded data track;

a separate guide slot section removably mounted within said central guide slot gap and including at least a major side wall section and a bottom wall section filling said central guide slot gap to form a complete guide slot for said data card, edge portions of said central guide slot gap and edge portions of said guide slot section being cooperatively performed into structural shapes providing a slide-in mounting relationship therebetween, said guide slot section being formed from a second plastic material having substantially greater wear resistance than said first plastic material, said major side wall section having an access window formed therein for admitting said front face of said read into said guide slot; and

mounting means for mounting said read head to said separate guide slot section at a prearranged registered location relative to said access window and with said front face thereof extending into said card guide slot such that said magnetic transducer element is positioned relative to said bottom wall of said card guide means for accurate detection of data encoded on said data track.

11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said edge portions providing said slide-in mounting relationship comprise a tongue member on one of said edge portions and a groove member on the other of said edge portions.

12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said housing means comprises a top enclosure and a bottom enclosure adapted to be assembled together to form a complete housing for electronic circuit components, each of said top enclosure and said bottom enclosure having side wall members forming a portion of said guide slot, said side wall member of said top enclosure having a rectangular aperture formed therein and receiving said separate guide slot section.

13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein

said separate guide slot section includes a pair of head location apertures formed therein adjacent said access aperture;

and said mounting means comprises;

a leaf spring means carrying said read head and having a pair of mounting apertures on end portions thereof; and

clamp means for mounting said leaf spring means and said read head carried thereon to said guide means, said clamp means including a pair of spring mounting means cooperating with said mounting apertures in said leaf spring means and said head location apertures formed on said guide slot section to mount said read head in said registered location in said access aperture, said leaf spring urging a front surface of said read head into said guide slot and into contact with the surface of a magnetic track on a data card being manually swiped through said guide slot.

14. Apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein

said magnetic stripe on said data card defines three separated magnetic data track locations;

said read head has two separated magnetic pick up heads for simultaneously detecting magnetically encoded data on two of said three separated magnetic data track locations; and

said head location apertures in said guide means and said mounting apertures in said leaf spring element and said spring mounting means on said clamp means all being located such that said leaf spring element and said clamp means may be mounted to said guide means in a preselected one of respectively inverted first and second orientations, said first orientation positioning said magnetic pick up heads on said read head for detecting data on the upper two of said magnetic data track locations as said data card is manually swiped through said guide slot, and said second orientation positioning said magnetic pick up heads on said read head for detecting data on the lower two of said magnetic data track locations as said data card is manually swiped through said guide slot.

15. Apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein

said magnetic stripe on said data card defines three separated magnetic data track locations;

said read head has two separated magnetic pick up heads for simultaneously detecting magnetically encoded data on two of said three track locations;

said mounting means mounts said read head within said access aperture at a registered location such that said separated magnetic pick up heads are positioned relative to said bottom wall of said guide slot for detecting data on the upper two of said magnetic data track locations; and

said bottom wall of said guide slot is adapted to receive a wall insert member extending substantially the entire length of said guide means and having a prearranged thickness to alter the position of said bottom wall of said guide slot relative to said read head such that said separated magnetic pick up heads are positioned for detecting data on the lower two of said magnetic data track locations.

16. Apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein said guide slot section defines a bottom wall having an upper surface tapering downwardly from a point directly underneath said transducer element on said read head such that said data track on a data card being swiped through said guide slot is accurately registered with said transducer element even when said data card is swiped through said guide slot at an angle.

17. A card reader subassembly adapted for slide-in mounting in a central card guide gap formed in a card guide provided in a housing to facilitate reading a data card having data stored on at least one data track,

a guide slot section having at least one side wall member and a bottom wall member, said side wall member having edge portions preformed into a preselected structural shape to cooperate with an associated structural shape formed on edge portions of said card guide gap to provide a removable slide-in mounting relationship therebetween, said side wall member further having an access window formed therein;

a transducer means for detecting said data stored on said data track; and

mounting means for mounting said transducer means at a prearranged location within said access window for accurate detection of data stored on the data track of a data carrier being passed through said guide slot section. said data track.

18. Apparatus as claimed in claim 17, wherein said mounting means comprises:

a leaf spring means carrying said read head and having a pair of mounting apertures on end portions thereof; and

clamp means for mounting said leaf spring element and said read head carried thereon to said guide slot section, said clamp means including a pair of spring mounting means cooperating with said mounting apertures in said leaf spring means to mount said read head in a registered location in said access aperture, said leaf spring urging a front surface of said read head into said guide slot and into contact with the surface of a magnetic track on a card being manually swiped through said guide slot.

19. Apparatus as claimed in claim 18, adapted for reading a data card having three separated magnetic data track locations;

said transducer means is a read head having two separated magnetic pick up heads for simultaneously detecting magnetically encoded data on two of said three separated magnetic data track locations; and

said mounting apertures in said leaf spring element and said spring mounting means on said clamp means being positioned such that said leaf spring element and said clamp means may be mounted to said guide slot section in one of respectively inverted first and second orientations, said first orientation positioning said magnetic pick up heads on said read head for detecting data on the upper two of said magnetic data track locations as said data card is manually swiped through said guide slot, and said second orientation positioning said magnetic pick up heads on said read head for detecting data on the lower two of said magnetic data track locations as said data card is manually swiped through said guide slot.