Card transport mechanism and method of operation

• US 5,920,055 A
• Filed: 06/18/1998
• Issued: 07/06/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Card Technology Corporation
• Original Assignee: Card Technology Corporation
• Inventors: Roth, Philip M., Hague, Edward W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Thien Minh
• Application Number:
  US09/099,338
• Time in Patent Office: 383 Days
• Field of Search: 235/375, 235/380, 235/448, 235/451, 235/483, 235/440, 235/444, 235/446, 235/485, 382/187
• US Class Current: 235/380
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 3/385 of plates, e.g. metal plates, plastic cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 13/07 Transporting of cards between stations
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 13/077 with intermittent movement; Braking or stopping movement
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/00 Methods or arrangements for effecting co-operative working between equipments covered by two or more of main groups G06K1/00 - G06K15/00, e.g. automatic card files incorporating conveying and reading operations

Abstract

The present invention is a card transport mechanism for transporting cards (114) along a transport path (108) and method of operation thereof. A card transport mechanism (180) in accordance with the invention includes a pair of spaced apart channels (186, 188), each channel engaging a different one of a pair of opposed edges of the cards; a carriage (196) for holding the cards at a fixed position relative to the carriage during motion along the transport path, the carriage having first (198) and second (120) card contacting elements spaced apart at different positions along the transport path and projecting into the transport path for contacting and holding a card in the fixed position during motion along the transport path, the first card contacting element being compliant to move orthogonally from within the transport path to permit movement of the card along the channels while the carriage is stationary prior to contact of the card by the second card contacting element and the second card contacting element being compliant along the transport path in response to contact with the card to produce contact and holding of the opposed edges of the card with the first and second card contacting elements in the fixed position; and a carriage support (120), connected to the carriage, for guiding the carriage along the transport path.

Claims

1. A process for sequentially embossing a card with individual characters contained in a character set by rotating an embosser to a series of selected rotary positions at which individual characters of the character set are aligned with selected card positions at which the individual characters of the character set are embossed comprising:

sorting the set of characters to form a first ordered set containing the characters in an order of increasing distance between a reference rotary position of the embosser and a rotary position of each individual character of the first ordered set on the embosser relative to the reference rotary position;

sorting the first ordered set to form a second ordered set having the characters in a new order in which the individual characters of the second ordered set increase in distance measured relative to the reference rotary position from a distance of the first character in the second ordered set to a distance of the last character in the second ordered set with at least some of the individual successive characters from the first character to the last character in the second ordered set not being located farther from the reference rotary position than an immediately preceding character of the second ordered set; and

embossing the characters of the second ordered set with the embosser in an order beginning from the first character of the second ordered set successively to the last character of the second ordered set by coordinated rotary motion of the embosser and rectilinear motion of a carriage holding the card to sequentially position the embosser and card at selected rotary and rectilinear positions respectively to emboss the individual characters of the character set.

2. A process in accordance with claim 1, further comprising:

inserting a subsequent character in the first ordered set between each pair of successive characters of the first ordered set which are separated by a distance along X and Y axes of motion of the carriage, which is too great to be moved during the time interval with each inserted character being deleted for an original position thereof in the first ordered set and being located a distance along the X and Y axes spaced from the first character of the character pair which may be moved by the carriage during the time interval; and

moving all characters in a group of characters between the second character of each character pair and a character immediately before a position of the deleted character in the first ordered set down one character position in the first ordered set to form the second set.

5. A process in accordance with claim 1, wherein the time interval comprises:

a time interval which the carriage may be moved between successive time intervals during which the carriage cannot be moved while successive characters are being embossed.

6. A process in accordance with claim 2, wherein the time interval comprises:

a time interval which the carriage may be moved between successive time intervals during which the carriage cannot be moved while successive characters are being embossed.

3. A process for sequentially embossing a card with individual characters contained in a character set by rotating an embosser to a series of selected rotary positions at which individual characters of the character set are aligned with selected card positions at which the individual characters of the character set are embossed comprising:

sorting the set of characters to form a first ordered set containing the characters in an order of increasing distance between a reference rotary position of the embosser and a rotary position of each individual character of the first ordered set on the embosser relative to the reference rotary position;

sorting the first ordered set to form a second ordered set having the characters in a new order which partially has successive characters of the second ordered set in an order of increasing distance measured relative to the reference rotary position and partially has successive characters of the second ordered set in an order with a distance between X an Y axes embossing coordinates of the successive characters on the card not being separated by a distance measured along orthogonal coordinate axes which exceeds a maximum distance that the card may be moved during a time interval; and

embossing the characters of the second ordered set with the embosser in an order beginning from the first character of the second ordered set successively to the last character of the second ordered set by coordinated rotary motion of the embosser and rectilinear motion of the carriage holding the card to sequentially position the embosser and card at selected rotary and rectilinear positions respectively to emboss the individual characters of the character set.

4. A process in accordance with claim 3, further comprising:

inserting a subsequent character in the first ordered set between each pair of successive characters of the first ordered set which are separated by a distance along X and Y axes of motion of the carriage, which is too great to be moved during the time interval with each inserted character being deleted for an original position thereof in the first ordered set and being located a distance along the X and Y axes spaced from the first character of the character pair which may be moved by the carriage during the time interval; and

moving all characters in a group of characters between the second character of each character pair and a character immediately before a position of the deleted character in the first ordered set down one character position in the first ordered set to form the second set.

7. A process in accordance with claim 3, wherein the time interval comprises:

a time interval which the carriage may be moved between successive time intervals during which the carriage cannot be moved while successive characters are being embossed.

8. A process in accordance with claim 4, wherein the time interval comprises:

a time interval which the carriage may be moved between successive time intervals during which the carriage cannot be moved while successive characters are being embossed.

9. An embossing system comprising:

an embosser having first and second rotatable wheels carrying pairs of matched characters which may be selectively embossed and which are rotated in unison to a selected rotary position to emboss a selected character from the pairs of matched characters on a card disposed between the wheels, each matched character pair being activated to emboss a selected character when positioned at the selected rotary position to drive each character pair into contact with opposed surfaces of the card and away from contact with the card to emboss the card disposed between the first and second rotating wheels with the selected character;

a motor, coupled to the embosser wheels, for selectively rotating the wheels to the selected rotary position to position the selected character for embossing;

a power source and power transmission for transmitting power produced by the power source to a pair of matched characters of the selected character positioned at the selected rotary position to emboss the selected character at the selected rotary position on the card disposed between the first and second rotary wheels;

a carriage and carriage drive for holding individual cards at a position between the first and second rotating wheels and for translating each card held by the carriage selectively along orthogonal coordinate axes to selectable individual positions on the card held by the carriage at which each selected character positioned at the selected rotary position is embossed on the card held by the carriage;

a detector for indicating when each pair of matched characters at the selected rotary position has first cleared opposed faces of the card being embossed; and

an embosser controller, responsive to the detector, for controlling the motor, the power source, and the carriage drive, for controlling activation of the motor and the carriage drive to begin rotation of the first and second rotatable wheels from a selected rotary position at which a selected character has been embossed on the card to a next selected rotary position at which a next selected character is to be embossed on the card and to begin translation of the card held by the carriage by the carriage drive from a card position at which the selected character has been embossed along at least one of the orthogonal coordinate axes to a next card position at which a next selected character is to be embossed on the card in response to the detector indicating that the pair of matched characters, which embossed the selected character, has first cleared engagement with the opposed surfaces of the card.

10. An embosser in accordance with claim 9, wherein:

the power transmission comprises at least one interposer, which is periodically activated by the embosser controller, to connect the power source to a pair of matched characters of a selected character for an embossing time interval.

11. An embossing system in accordance with claim 9, wherein:

the detector indicates a rotary position of a drive shaft of the power source at which each pair of matched characters which has embossed a character has first cleared opposed faces of the card being embossed.

12. An embossing system in accordance with claim 9, wherein:

the detector indicates a rotary position of a drive shaft of the power source at which each pair of matched characters which has embossed a character has first cleared opposed faces of the card being embossed.

13. A method of embossing cards with a plurality of selected characters comprising:

positioning a card to be embossed at selected card positions with the plurality of selected characters between a pair of rotatable embossing wheels respectively carrying pairs of matched characters which emboss the plurality of selected characters and rotating the pair of rotatable embossing wheels to a selected rotary position at which a selected character is to be embossed at a selected card position with a selected pair of the pairs of matched characters;

providing power from a power source to a matched pair of the selected character positioned at the selected rotary position to drive the matched pair into opposed surfaces of the card to emboss the selected character at a selected card position;

indicating when the matched pair of the selected character has first cleared opposed surfaces of the card during the providing of power to the matched pair of the selected character; and

responsive to the indication that the matched pair of the selected character has first cleared the opposed surfaces of the card, beginning rotation of the pair of rotatable embossing wheels to a selected rotary position where a next selected character is to be embossed and in response to the indication that the matched pair of the selected character has first cleared the opposed surfaces beginning translation of the card to a next selected card position where a next selected character is to be embossed thereon.

14. A method in accordance with claim 13, further comprising:

periodically providing the power from the power source to a pair of the matched characters of the selected character by activating an interposer to connect the power source to a pair of matched characters of the selected character.

15. A method in accordance with claim 13, wherein:

a detector indicates a rotary position of a drive shaft of the power source at which a pair of matched characters embossing a selected character on the card first clears opposed faces of the card.

16. A method in accordance with claim 14, wherein:

a detector indicates a rotary position of a drive shaft of the power source at which a pair of matched characters embossing a selected character on the card first clears opposed faces of the card.

17. A method in accordance with claim 15, wherein:

a detector indicates a rotary position of a drive shaft of the power source at which a pair of matched characters embossing a selected character on the card first clears opposed faces of the card.