Card package production system with a multireader card track and method

• US 6,719,198 B2
• Filed: 05/19/1998
• Issued: 04/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Dynetics Engineering Corp.
• Original Assignee: Dynetics Engineering Corporation Incorporated
• Inventors: Bretl, Robert J., Bretl, James G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Frech, Karl D.
• Application Number:
  US09/081,312
• Publication Number:
  US 20030155419A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,156 Days
• Field of Search: 235/380, 235/492, 235/488, 235/487, 235/475, 235/476, 235/481, 235/439, 235/449, 235/441, 902/26, 902/29
• US Class Current: 235/380
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 13/08 Feeding or discharging cards

Abstract

A card package production system (30) for producing card packages each with at least one card (48) bearing card information at a plurality of different card information locations on the card (48) with a card multireader (54) having an elongate card track (52) with a succession of reading stations located along the track (52) with readers for respectively reading the card information at the different locations on the card (48) with means for simultaneously sliding a plurality of the cards (48) along the track (52) in seriatim relationship through the succession of reading stations of the multireader 54 for simultaneous reading of the card information at the different locations on the cards (48) by the multireader (54).

Claims

1. In a card package production system for producing card packages each with at least one card bearing card information at a plurality of different card information locations on the card, the improvement being a card multireader, comprising:

an elongate card track;

a succession of reading station located along the track with readers for respectively reading the card information at the different locations on the card; and

means for simultaneously sliding a plurality of the cards along the track in seriatim relationship through the succession of reading stations for simultaneous reading of the information at the different locations on the cards by the readers, said card sliding means including a plurality of pusher members for pushing the cards along the card track to said succession of reading stations, respectively.

2. The card package of claim 1, in which

said cards are planar, and

said elongate track provides underlying support of the cards with the plane of the cards in a substantially position.

3. The card package production system of claim 1 in which said card sliding means includes

a carriage assembly,

means for mounting said plurality of pusher members to the carriage assembly in space relationship, and

means for mounting said carriage assembly for movement along the track with the pusher in engagement with the cards to be pushed.

4. The card package production system of claim 3 in which said carriage assembly includes

means for mounting the carriage assembly for reciprocal movement along the track, and in which

said mounting means includes means for pivotally mounting the pusher members to the carriage assembly.

5. The card package production system of claim 4 in which said carriage assembly includes a first carriage with at least one pusher for pushing the cards to a first reading station of the succession of reading stations,

a second carriage with a plurality of pushers for pushing the cards through the succession of reading stations, and

means for mounting both said first carriage and said second carriage for movement relative to each other and relative to the reading stations along the track.

6. The card package production system of claim 5 in which said mounting means includes

a rail,

means for attaching said first carriage for sliding movement along the rail, and

means for attaching the second carriage for sliding movement along the rail.

7. The card package production system of claim 3 in which said carriage assembly includes

a first carriage,

a second carriage,

an electrical motor, and

means for linking the electrical motor to the first carriage to move the first carriage relative to the second carriage when spaced from the second carriage and to push the second carriage along the track with the first carriage when the first carriage engages the second carriage.

8. The card package production system of claim 7 including means spring biasing the second carriage to move to a home position when not engaged by the first carriage.

9. The card package production system of claim 8 in which said spring is a constant tension spring to maintain substantially constant spring bias force on the second carriage as the second carriage moves along the track.

10. The card package production system of claim 7 including

two adjacent card picker locations located along the track, and in which

said linking means includes means for selectively moving the first carriage means to either one of said two card picker locations to slide cards along the track to a first reading station of said succession of reading stations.

11. The card package production system of claim 10 in which

said electrical motor is a bidirectional motor, and

said linking means includes a closed loop pulley system driven by the bidirectional motor and driving a belt connected to the first carriage to move it along the track.

12. The card package production system of claim 1 in which said readers that read card information at different locations on the card are different types of readers which read different types of information.

13. The card package production system of claim 12 in which said different types of readers include at least two types of readers selected from the group of (a) magnetic stripe reader (b) embossed character reader (c) computer chip reader (d) bar code reader.

14. The card package production system of claim 13 in which said different types of readers include at least three of the types of readers of the group.

15. The card package production system of claim 13 in which said different types of readers includes all four of the types of readers of the group.

16. The card package production system of claim 13 in which one of said successive reading stations includes two of said different types of readers of the group.

17. The card package production system of claim 16 in which said two readers at said one of the successive reading stations are (a) the magnetic stripe reader and (b) the embossed character reader.

18. The card package production system of claim 17 in which the one reading station is a first reading station of the succession of reading stations at which card information is read.

19. The card package production system of claim 18 in which yet another one of said reading stations has a bar code reader.

20. The card package production system of claim 18 in which yet another one of said reading stations has a bar code reader.

21. The card package production system of claim 17 in which another one of said reading stations has a computer chip reader.

22. In a card package production system for producing card packages each with at least one card bearing card information at a plurality of different card information locations on the card, the improvement being a card multireader, comprising:

an elongate card track;

a succession of reading station located along the track with readers for respectively reading the card information at the different locations on the card;

means for simultaneously sliding a plurality of the cards along the track in seriatim relationship through the succession of reading stations for simultaneous reading of the information at the different locations on the cards by the readers; and

a lateral reject station located along the track after the succession of reading stations with means for laterally removing rejected cards from the elongate track which have been improperly coded.

23. The card package of production system of claim 22 including an alternative reject station located after the lateral reject station for rejecting cards longitudinally from an end of the track.

24. The card package production system of claim 22 including a pocket station located along the track after the succession of reading stations and said lateral reject station, said pocket station including means for laterally removing a card from the track to a pocket position for attachment to a carrier form.

25. The card package production system of claim 22 in which said laterally removing means includes means for selectively removing underlying support for the rejected cards to enable them to fall off the track.

26. The card package production system of claim 25 in which said support removing means includes

a pair of card supports for supporting the card only at a pair of opposite sided edges of the card,

means for mounting a movable one of said pair of card supports for movement between a supporting position in which it supports one of said pair of opposite side edges and another nonsupporting position in which it does not support said one of the opposite side edges, and

means for selectively moving the one of said pair of card supports from the supporting position to the nonsupporting position.

27. The card package production system of claim 26 in which said selectively moving means includes

a solenoid, and

means linking the solenoid to the movable one of the pair of supports.

28. The card package production system of claim 26 in which said support removing means includes

a pair of card supports for supporting the card only at a pair of opposite side edges of the card,

means for mounting a movable one of said pair of card supports for movement between a supporting position in which it supports one of said pair of opposite side edges and another nonsupporting position in which it does not support said one opposite side edge, and

means for selectively moving the one of said pair of card supports from the supporting position to the nonsupport position.

29. The card package production system of claim 28 in which said selectively moving means includes

a solenoid, and

means linking the solenoid to the movable one of the pair of supports.

30. In a card package production system for producing card packages each with at least one card bearing card information at a plurality of different card information locations on the card, the improvement being a card multireader, comprising:

an elongate card track;

a succession of reading station located along the track with readers for respectively reading the card information at the different locations on the card;

means for simultaneously sliding a plurality of the cards along the track in seriatim relationship through the succession of reading stations for simultaneous reading of the information at the different locations on the cards by the readers; and

a pocket station located along the rack after the succession of reading stations, said pocket station including means for laterally removing a card from the track to a pocket position for attachment to a carrier form.

31. In a card package production system for producing card packages each with at least one card bearing card information at a plurality of different card information locations on the card, the improvement being a card multireader, comprising:

an elongate card track;

a succession of reading station located along the track with readers for respectively reading the card information at the different locations on the card;

means for simultaneously sliding a plurality of the cards along the track in seriatum relationship through the succession of reading stations for simultaneous reading of the information at the different locations on the cards by the readers; and

a pocket station located along the track after the succession of reading stations, said pocket station including means for laterally removing a card from the track to a pocket position for attachment to a carrier form, said laterally removing means including means for selectively removing underlying support for the rejected cards to enable them to fall off the track.

32. In a card package production system for producing card packages each with at least one card bearing card information at a plurality of different card information locations on the card, the improvement being a card multireader, comprising:

an elongate card track;

a succession of reading station located along the track with readers for respectively reading the card information at the different locations on the card;

means for simultaneously sliding a plurality of the cards along the track in seriatim relationship through the succession of reading stations for simultaneous reading of the information at the different locations on the cards by the readers; and

in which

one of said readers is a computer chip reading assembly including

a chip reader with a plurality of contacts for making electrical contact with corresponding terminals on opposite sides of a computer chip carried by the card,

means for mounting said plurality of contacts for lateral movement of the contacts toward and away from the terminals on opposite sides of the computer chip, and

means connected with the simultaneous sliding means for laterally moving said contacts into sideways engagement with the corresponding terminals after the card has been moved to the reading station of the chip reader.

33. The card package production system of claim 32 in which said mounting means engaging member is a rotary member.

34. The card package production system of claim 33 in which said lateral movement mounting means for the chip reader contacts includes means for mounting the reader contacts for pivotal movement along an axis substantially parallel to the elongate track.

35. In a card package production system for producing card packages each with at least one card bearing card information at a plurality of different card information locations on the card, the improvement being a card multireader, comprising:

an elongate card track;

a succession of reading station located along the track with readers for respectively reading the card information at the different locations on the card,

one of said readers being a computer chip reading assembly including

a chip reader with a plurality of contacts for making electrical contact with corresponding terminals of a computer chip carried by the card,

means for mounting said plurality of contacts for lateral movement toward and away from the terminal, and

means connected with the simultaneous sliding means for laterally moving said contacts into engagement with the corresponding terminals after the card has been moved to the reading station of the chip reader; and

means for simultaneously sliding a plurality of the cards along the track in seriatim relationship through the succession of reading stations for simultaneous reading of the information at the different locations on the cards by the readers,

said simultaneous cards sliding means including

a carriage with a plurality of pusher members for pushing the plurality of cards,

means for mounting the carriage for reciprocal movement along the track, and in which

said laterally moving means including a member carried by the carriage for engaging the mounting means to move the contacts into engagement with the corresponding terminals when the carriage reciprocally moves in a direction opposite to a direction it moves to move the cards to the reading station with said chip reader.

36. The card package production system of claim 35 in which said lateral movement mounting means for the chip reader contacts includes means for mounting the chip reader contacts for pivotal movement along an axis substantially transverse to the elongate track.

37. The card package production system of claim 36 in which said mounting means engaging member is a rotary member.

38. In a card package production system for producing card packages each with at least one card bearing card information at a plurality of different card information locations on the card, the improvement being a card multireader, comprising:

an elongate card track;

a succession of reading station located along the track with readers for respectively reading the card information at the different locations on the card; and

means for simultaneously sliding a plurality of the cards along the track in seriatim relationship through the succession of reading stations for simultaneous reading of the information at the different locations on the cards by the readers, and

a card feeder assembly for feeding cards inot the elongate track having

a pair of card hoppers for respectively storing two stacks of cards to be read,

a pair of picker mechanisms respectively associated with the pair of card hoppers for picking the bottom card of each stack to remove it from the stack,

a bi-directional electrical motor, and

means of for linking the bidirectional motor to both of said pair of picker mechanisms to selectively drive the picker mechanism in opposite directions to alternatively drive the pair of picker mechanisms to remove the cards from the associated pair of hoppers.

39. The card package production system of claim 38 in which said bidirectional motor linking means includes

a drive pulley wheel for rotating with the bidirectional motor,

a pair of idler pulley wheels mounted on opposite sides of and above the drive pulley wheel, and

an elongate pulley belt with a pair of opposite ends connected to said picker mechanism and engaged with and extending over the pair of idler pulley wheels and under the drive pulley wheel.

40. The card package production system of claim 39 in which said picker mechanism includes

a pair of picker pulley connectors fixedly attached to said pair of opposite ends of the pulley belt respectively and including means of slideably mounting said picker pulley connectors on said pair of guide members, respectively.

41. The card package productions system of claim 40 in which said card sliding means slides said plurality of cards along the track intermittently.

42. The card package production system of claim 41 in which said card sliding means slides the cards along the track in seriatim, spaced relationship.

43. In a card package production system for producing card packages each with at least one card bearing card information at a plurality of different card information locations on the card, the improvement being a card multireader, comprising:

an elongate card track;

a succession of reading station located along the track with readers for respectively reading the card information at the different locations on the card; and

means for simultaneously sliding a plurality ,of the cards along the track in seriatim relationship through the succession of reading stations for simultaneous reading of the information at the different locations on the cards by the readers, and said card sliding means slides said plurality of cards along the track intermittently.

44. The method of claim 43, in which said cards are planar, and including the steps of

providing underlying support with the elongate track of the cards with the plane of the cards in a substantially horizontal position.

46. The method of claim 44 including the step of reading reading card information with readers at different locations includes, different types of readers which read different types of information.

45. In a card package production system for producing card packages each with at least one card bearing card information at a plurality of different card information locations on the card, the improvement being a method of reading the card information, comprising the steps of:

simultaneously sliding a plurality of cards along the track in seriatim relationship through a succession of reading stations by pushing the cards along the card track to said succession of reading stations, respectively; and

simultaneously reading the card information at the different locations on the card with different readers at the succession of reading stations.

47. The method of claim 45 including the step of

reading a computer chip carried by the card with a computer chip reading assembly having a chip reader with a plurality of contacts for making electrical contact with corresponding terminals on opposite sides of the computer chip carried by the cared,

mounting said plurality of contacts for lateral movement of the contacts toward and away from the terminals on opposite sides of the computer, and

laterally moving said contacts with means connected with the simultaneously sliding means into sideways engagement with corresponding terminals after the card has been moved to the reading station of the chip reader.

48. The method of claim 45 in which the step of simultaneously sliding includes the step of controlling a sensor at each of said plurality of reading stations to detect when a card is present at the reading station.

49. In a card package production system for producing card packages each with at least one card bearing card information at a plurality of different card information locations on the card, the improvement being a method of reading the card information, comprising the steps of:

simultaneously sliding a plurality of cards along the track in seriatim relationship through a succession of reading stations;

simultaneously reading the card information at the different locations on the card with different readers at the succession of reading stations; and

laterally rejecting cards from the elongate track which have been improperly coded.

50. In a card package production system for producing card packages each with at least one card bearing card information at a plurality of different card information locations on the card, the improvement being a method of reading the card information, comprising the steps of:

simultaneously sliding a plurality of cards along the track in seriatim relationship through a succession of reading stations;

simultaneously reading the card information at the different locations on the card with different readers at the succession of reading stations; and

laterally removing a card from the track to a pocket position for attachment to a carrier form.

51. In a card package production system for producing card packages each with at least one card bearing card information at a plurality of different card information locations on the card, the improvement being a method of reading the card information, comprising the steps of:

feeding cards into an elongate track with a card feeder assembly;

picking the bottom card of each stack to remove it from the stack with a pair of picker mechanisms respectively associated with the pair of card hoppers;

selectively driving the picker mechanism in opposite directions with a bi-directional motor to alternatively drive the pair of picker mechanisms to remove the cards from the associated pair of hoppers;

simultaneously sliding the plurality of cards along the track in seriatim relationship through a succession of reading stations; and

simultaneously reading the card information at the different locations on the card with different readers at the succession of reading stations.