Magnetic card transaction apparatus

• US 6,629,643 B1
• Filed: 07/07/2000
• Issued: 10/07/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sankyo Seiki Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (Nidec Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sankyo Seiki Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (Nidec Corporation)
• Inventors: Nagata, Shigeyuki, Uemura, Yoshiharu, Hirasawa, Kenji
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Michael G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Caputo, Lisa M
• Application Number:
  US09/611,501
• Time in Patent Office: 1,187 Days
• Field of Search: 235/475, 235/477, 235/480, 235/449
• US Class Current: 235/475
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 13/08 Feeding or discharging cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 13/0875 the arrangement comprising a shutter for blocking at least part of the card insertion slot
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 13/0881 the shutter arranged to open only if the record carrier has been authenticated to enter the insertion slot
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/084 sensing magnetic material by relative movement detecting flux changes without altering its magnetised state
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 19/20 Automatic teller machines [ATMs]
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 19/201 Accessories of ATMs
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 19/2055 Anti-skimming aspects at ATMs

Abstract

A card with a magnetic stripe when fed into a card reader can be illegally read by a read head unobtrusively attached to the outside of the card reader adjacent to the slot into which the card is fed. To defeat this illegal reading, movement of a card through the read head is interrupted thereby making it difficult for the illegal read head to read the stripe. This interruption occurs at the point where the proper read head inside the card reader is not reading the magnetic stripe. The interruption can be a brief stop or a brief reversal in direction. The interruption occurs once while the card is being fed into the card reader and once when the card is being fed out of the card reader.

Claims

1. A magnetic card transaction apparatus for defeating an unauthorized reading of a magnetic card, the apparatus comprising:

an insertion detector which detects that a magnetic card is inserted through an insertion slot;

a card transferring system that takes in the magnetic card;

a shutter that opens or closes a card guiding path guiding the magnetic card inserted from the card slot;

a magnetic head that reads magnetic information stored in the magnetic card; and

a drive control circuit that controls the shutter to open the card guiding path when the insertion detector detects that the magnetic card is inserted, the drive control circuit further operable to;

drive the card transferring system to take in the magnetic card,

temporarily suspend operation of taking in the magnetic card by the card transferring system before the magnetic card reaches the magnetic head and while a portion of the magnetic card still extends out of the card slot, and

after the temporary suspension, drive the card transferring system to resume operation of taking in the magnetic card past the magnetic head such that the magnetic head reads the magnetic information stored in the magnetic card.

2. The magnetic card transaction apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the card transferring system comprises a motor controlled by the drive control circuit and a plurality of rollers coupled to be driven by the motor.

3. The magnetic card transaction apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the drive control circuit is further operable to:

drive the card transferring system to eject the magnetic card,

temporarily suspend operation of ejecting the magnetic card by the card transferring system after the magnetic card travels past the magnetic head and while a portion of the magnetic card extends out of the card slot, and

after the temporary suspension, drive the card transferring system to resume ejection of the magnetic card.

4. The magnetic card transaction apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the drive control circuit temporarily suspends operation of taking in the magnetic card by the card transferring system for a time period between 100 ms and 500 ms, inclusive.

5. The magnetic card transaction apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the insertion detector includes a magnetic head operable to detect the presence of the magnetic medium of the magnetic card.

6. A method of defeating an illegal reading of a magnetic card at a point of insertion of the card through a card slot into a card reader having a card transferring system to move the card past a magnetic head, the method comprising:

detecting that a magnetic card is inserted through an insertion slot;

opening a card guiding path when insertion of the magnetic card is detected;

driving a card transferring system to take in the magnetic card;

temporarily suspending operation of taking in the magnetic card by the card transferring system before the magnetic card reaches a magnetic head and while a portion of the magnetic card still extends out of the card slot; and

after the temporary suspension, driving the card transferring system to resume operation of taking in the magnetic card past the magnetic head such that the magnetic head reads the magnetic information stored in the magnetic card.

7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising:

driving the card transferring system to eject the magnetic card;

temporarily suspending operation of ejecting the magnetic card by the card transferring system after the magnetic card moves past the magnetic head and while a portion of the magnetic card extends out of the card slot; and

after the temporary suspension, driving the card transferring system to resume ejection of the magnetic card.

8. The method according to claim 6 wherein the step of temporarily suspending operation includes suspending operation of taking in the magnetic card by the card transferring system for a time period between 100 ms and 500 ms, inclusive.

9. The method according to claim 6 wherein the step of detecting includes detecting the presence of the magnetic medium of the magnetic card.

10. A magnetic card transaction apparatus comprising:

a card slot from which a magnetic card is inserted;

a detector which detects that said magnetic card is inserted from said card slot;

a card transferring mechanism which takes in said magnetic card;

a shutter which opens or closes a card guiding path guiding said magnetic card inserted from said card slot to said card transferring mechanism; and

a controller which controls said shutter to open said card guiding path when said detector detects that said magnetic card is inserted, said controller further operable to temporarily suspend said card transferring mechanism after said card guiding path is opened and before said card transferring mechanism is activated to transfter said magnetic card while a portion of the magnetic card still extends out of the card slot.

11. A magnetic card transaction apparatus comprising:

a card slot from which a magnetic card is inserted;

a card insertion detector which detects that said magnetic card is inserted from said card slot;

a card transferring mechanism which takes in said magnetic card;

a shutter which opens or closes a card guiding path guiding said magnetic card inserted from said card slot to said card transferring mechanism;

a detector which detects that said magnetic card inserted from said card slot comes in contact with said shutter; and

a shutter controller which opens said guiding path by driving said shutter, said shutter controller further operable to temporarily suspend opening of said shutter after said detector detects that said magnetic card has come in contact with said shutter while a portion of the magnetic card still extends out of the card slot.