JP2003104591A - Card recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a card recording device offering compact construction while securing a sufficient storage capacity of blank cards, without lowering card carrying performance and processing capability such as printing, and having a higher degree of freedom in designing the arrangement of structural elements. SOLUTION: The card recording device comprises a card supply part 10 provided on a first carrying passage p1 for storing one or more cards and feeding the cards C one by one to the first carrying passage p1, a first information recording part 20A provided on a second carrying passage p2 intersecting the first carrying passage p1 approximately perpendicularly for printing information on the cards C supplied from the card supply part 10, a second information recording part 20B provided on a third carrying passage p3 intersecting the first carrying passage p1 for recording information on the cards C, and a card reversing part 30 provided at the intersection point of the first, second and third carrying passages p1, p2, p3 for rotating the cards C.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording device for printing various images and characters on a recording medium such as a card, and more particularly, a plurality of processing units including a printer unit are rationally arranged to achieve various processing efficiencies. The present invention relates to a recording device for cards and the like, which realizes the improvement of the configuration and the downsizing of the configuration and has a high degree of freedom in design.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A card recording device such as a card printer for printing or recording various kinds of image information on the surface of a card-shaped plastic substrate to produce a credit card, a license card, an IC card or the like is widely used.

A recording apparatus of this type usually comprises a card supply section for accommodating a plurality of blank cards, a processing section such as a thermal transfer printer unit, and a card discharge section for discharging a processing-completed card. Are arranged along.

As the processing section, in addition to the printer unit, a magnetic encoder for magnetically recording information on a card,
It may include a laminator that covers and protects the recording surface of the card. In any case, the card transport path for transporting the card to be processed was substantially linear, and the respective parts were arranged linearly along the transport path.

Therefore, in order to make the recording apparatus compact, in addition to downsizing each part, consideration is given to narrowing the arrangement interval of each part. In particular, the printer unit tends to be disposed close to the card supply unit in order to make the apparatus compact. That is, although a means such as a card cleaner may be interposed between the card supply unit and the printer unit, normally, the card discharged from the card supply unit is fed straight into the printer unit at the shortest distance. Designed to be

However, the printer unit in this type of device occupies a large volume including the ink ribbon cartridge and the printer head, and likewise, in order to accommodate as many blank cards as possible, the volume occupied by the card supply section tends to be large. Is.

Naturally, it is conceivable to downsize the printer unit and the card supply unit in order to make the apparatus compact. However, if the printer unit is downsized, the capacity of the ink ribbon becomes small, which causes inconvenience in use. Further, miniaturizing the card supply unit also reduces the storage capacity of the blank card and lowers the processing efficiency, so there is a limit to miniaturizing the elements of these processing units.

From the above circumstances, the conventional card printer is
At least the printer unit and the card supply unit need to be installed in parallel, which hinders miniaturization, and when the form that fills the minimum volume is inevitable, it becomes an elongated rectangular parallelepiped, and the degree of freedom in design is poor. Met.

Therefore, the card transport path is divided into upper and lower parts and arranged in parallel, a printer unit is provided in the upper card transport path, and a magnetic encoder is provided in the lower card transport path. A card recording device configured to transfer a card between upper and lower card conveying paths by a card transfer unit including a card rotating means provided in JP-A-9-
It is proposed in Japanese Patent No. 131944.

[0010]

According to the above-mentioned conventional device, the length of the device can be reduced by half because the card transport path is vertically divided into two parts, but the volume of the device cannot be substantially reduced. . In addition, the transfer path between the pair of card rotating means only lengthens the moving distance of the card, that is, the distance from the card storage section or printer unit to the magnetic encoder is not effective in card processing. .

As described above, in the conventional card recording device,
There was no one that could secure the compactness of the device and reasonable card transport efficiency without reducing the card processing efficiency.

In view of the above circumstances, the present invention has an object to reduce the card carrying performance and a plurality of processing capabilities such as printing and encoding while securing a sufficient storage capacity for a blank card. It is another object of the present invention to provide a card recording device which can be made compact without any further and which has an improved degree of freedom in the layout design of each component.

Further, the present invention basically has a function of recording various kinds of information on the front and back sides of a card of a recording medium, and a card recording apparatus capable of stably and reliably executing such a function with a simple drive / control system. To provide.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a card recording device having high processing efficiency without causing a plurality of recording media to interfere with each other.

[0015]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a card recording apparatus according to the present invention is a card provided on a first conveying path for accommodating one or more cards and sending the cards one by one to the first conveying path. A first feeding unit, a first information recording unit that is provided on a second feeding path that intersects the first feeding path in a substantially orthogonal manner, and that prints information on a card supplied from the card feeding unit; A second information recording section provided on a third conveyance path intersecting the path for recording information on a card; and a card reversing section provided at an intersection of the first, second, and third conveyance paths for rotating the card , The card reversing unit,
The present invention has a configuration in which the card supplied from the card supply unit is rotated to feed the card to the second to third transport paths. As a result, the device can be made compact by reducing the distance from the card supply unit to the card reversing unit and the distance from the card reversing unit to the first and second information recording units, and the card can be rationalized. Can be transported. In addition, since the card reversing unit can change the direction of the card as well as reverse the card, the first and second information recording units can record information on either the front or back of the card, or both sides. The recording process can be arbitrarily performed.

Here, a cleaner for cleaning the card may be provided on the way of the first conveying path between the card supply section and the card reversing section. Further, it is preferable that the card reversing unit has a roller that holds the card and can rotate in forward and reverse directions.

A card ejecting section for ejecting a card may be provided at the end of the first conveying path, or a card ejecting section for ejecting a card may be provided at the end of the third conveying path.

The first information recording section may be a thermal transfer printer unit for printing characters and images on a card, and the second information recording section may be a magnetic encoder or IC writer for magnetically recording various information. May be

[0019]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a recording device for cards which efficiently conveys a recording medium such as a card so that a desired recording process can be performed efficiently and surely, and conveys the recording medium. The feature is that the apparatus is made compact by arranging a plurality of transport paths rationally. Here, an example in which a card-shaped plastic substrate is used as a recording medium and various image information such as characters and images are printed or recorded on the surface of the card to create a credit card, a license card, an IC card, etc. will be described below. Although described, the type of recording medium and the recording method are not particularly limited.

A card recording apparatus shown as a first embodiment of the present invention in FIGS. 1 and 2 is such that a first conveying path p1 arranged substantially horizontally inside a housing 1 and one or more blank cards ( A card supply unit 10 that stores a recording medium C and sends out cards one by one to the first transport path p1, and a second transport path p2 that is substantially orthogonal to the first transport path p2, that is, substantially vertically.
And an information recording unit 20 for recording various information on at least one surface of the supplied card C, and a card reversing unit 30 provided at an intersection X of the first transport path p1 and the second transport path p2.

The card supply unit 10 is provided with a card stacker 11 for accommodating one or more blank cards C in a stacked state, and a kick roller provided at the bottom of the card stacker 11 to feed the cards one by one from the card stacker 11 by rotating the card stacker 11. 12 and a lid 13 that opens and closes at least a part of the card stacker 11 so as to be openable.

The card stacker 11 normally has the first transport path p.
It has an opening slot which allows only one card to pass through at a position facing 1. When the kick roller 12 in contact with the lowest card of the laminated card C is rotated, only the lowest card is moved to the first position. It is sent to the transport path p1.

The opening / closing lid 13 is hinged to the upper portion of the housing 1 so as to be opened upward. The opening / closing lid 13 is provided with a card aligning piece 13a on the inside, and a plurality of blank cards C are loaded in a stack inside the card stacker 11 with the opening / closing lid 13 open upward, and then the opening / closing lid 13 is closed. As a result, the card alignment piece 13a can press the rear end of the card bundle to align the card bundle.

The information recording section 20 in this embodiment adopts the structure of a thermal transfer printer for thermally transferring and recording information such as characters and images on one surface of the card C which is a recording medium using thermal transfer ink. The present invention does not limit the type of recording information and the recording method.

The information recording section 20 which constitutes the thermal transfer printer here has a platen roller 21 provided at the recording position Sr of the second conveying path p2 and a thermal head 22 provided so as to be able to move forward and backward with respect to the platen roller 21. And an ink cartridge 23 containing an ink ribbon R coated with thermal transfer ink. A pair of conveying rollers 25 and 26 that rotate synchronously to move the card forward and backward with respect to the recording position Sr is provided along the second conveying path p2.

The ink ribbon R housed in the ink cartridge 23 passes from the ribbon supply reel 23a between the platen roller 21 and the thermal head 22 and is wound on the ribbon take-up reel 23b. Second
When thermal transfer recording of information such as characters or images on a card moving along the transport path p2, the heating element of the thermal head 22 is selectively pressed while pressing the thermal head 22 with the ink ribbon R interposed on the surface of the card. By the above operation, the thermal transfer ink component applied to the ink ribbon R can be transferred to the surface of the card to draw desired information.

The forward / backward movement of the thermal head 22 with respect to the platen roller 21 is performed by a holder 24a holding the thermal head 22 detachably, a driven roller 24b fixed to the holder 24a, and a non-circular shape which rotates while making circumferential contact with the driven roller 24b. The cam 24c and the holder 24a
It is executed by the advancing / retreating drive unit 24 including a spring 24d for contacting the pressure c. In the illustrated embodiment, the head unit holding the thermal head 22 therein is attachable to and detachable from the holder 24a, but the present invention is not limited to this configuration.

The thermal transfer recording method and the structure of the thermal transfer printer are not particularly new techniques, and a printer unit such as a conventional thermal melting type thermal printer or thermal sublimation type thermal printer can be used according to the purpose. Further, the structure of the advancing / retreating drive unit for advancing / retreating the thermal head 22 with respect to the platen roller 21 is not particularly limited.

The intersection X of the first transport path p1 and the second transport path p2
The card reversing unit 30 located at the function of feeding the card C from the first conveying path p1 to the second conveying path p2 or vice versa, and the information recording unit 20 can print on one or both sides of the card. It has the function of rotating the card in order to turn it over for application.

The reversing section 30 here rotatably supports the pair of pinch rollers 31a and 31b capable of holding the card and the pinch rollers 31a and 31b, and the first conveying path p.
1 and a rotary frame 32 that rotates around the intersection X of the second transport path p2.

The pinch rollers 31a and 31b are the rotating frame 3
When the two are horizontal, they are in pressure contact with each other with the first transport path p1 sandwiched therebetween, and in the vertical state, they have pressure contact with each other with the second transport path p2 sandwiched therebetween. One of the pair of pinch rollers is a driving roller and the other is a driven roller.

The rotation of the rotary frame 32 and the pinch rollers 31a,
The rotation of 31b can be performed by operating a drive system (not shown) that drives them in synchronization. Pinch roller 3
Rotating frame 32 with the card sandwiched between 1a and 31b
When is rotated, the pinch roller is also rotated and the card is displaced. Therefore, when the rotary frame 32 is rotated, the pinch roller is reversely rotated by the same angular rotation amount. Rotating frame 32
The rotation frame 32 and the pinch rollers 31a and 31b may be independently driven in order to prevent the pinch rollers 31a and 31b from rotating together during rotation.

However, the present invention is not particularly limited to the above-mentioned means, and the first conveying path and the second conveying path are not limited thereto.
Any structure may be used as long as it has a function of transferring a card between transport paths or rotating or reversing a card.

In the figure, 40 is a cleaner for cleaning the surface of the card. The cleaner 40 here is composed of a cleaning roller 41a such as a rubber material having an adhesive property and a pressure contact roller 41b that face each other with the first conveyance path p1 sandwiched therebetween, and a card discharged from the card supply unit 10 forms a pair. Dust and the like can be removed when passing between the formed cleaner rollers.

Numerals r1 and r2 are rollers for guiding the card feeding in the card supply section 10. r3 is a card guide roller arranged between the card reversing unit 30 and the information recording unit 20 in the second transport path p2. None of the rollers r1 to r3 is essential to the present invention.

In this embodiment, the completed card, which has undergone the intended processing, has the card ejecting section 50 positioned on the opposite side of the card reversing section 30 from the card supplying section 10, that is, on the downstream side of the first conveying path p1. There is. That is, the card supply unit 10 is provided at one end of the first transport path p1 and the card discharge unit 50 is provided at the other end.

The card ejection section 50 here is the first of the housing 1.
Although only the opening 50a is provided at a position corresponding to the transport path p1, a card receiver or the like may be provided outside the opening 50a. r4 is a card discharge roller.

All the operating parts of the recording device described above can be driven by a simple drive control system. As an example, the kick roller 12 of the card supply unit and the rotating frame 32 of the card reversing unit are driven by one motor, and the cleaner pressure contact roller 41b,
For example, one of the pinch roller 31b and the discharge roller r4 is driven by another motor. The drive operation of each operating element may be controlled by any drive system, and a power transmission means, an electromagnetic clutch, or the like may be appropriately used. A head drive source for rotating the cam 24c of the advance / retreat drive unit 24 of the information recording unit 20 is also used independently, but if an electromagnetic clutch or the like is used, the power of the transport drive source or the like can be used. In order to shorten the processing time in the continuous processing of cards by sending the next blank card from the card supply unit 10 to the first transfer path p1 and waiting while the first card is being processed in the second transfer path p2. May be provided with respective drive sources capable of independently driving the first transport path p1 and the second transport path p2.

The card recording processing operation by the recording apparatus having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 (A) to 4 (B).

FIG. 3A shows an initial state in which a plurality of blank cards C are loaded in the card stacker 11 of the card supply section 10. The kick roller 12 starts to rotate when a card producing command is given, and the lowest card. Only c1 is sent out from the card stacker 11 along the first transport path p1.
In the figure, the surface f (upper side) of the card c1 to be recorded is conceptually represented by dots.

Card c moving along the first transport path p1
When the card is fed until the center of 1 reaches the intersection X of the first and second transport paths, the rotary frame 32 is rotated while the card is held by the pinch rollers 31a and 31b (see FIG. 3B). In the drawing, the rotary frame 32 is rotated counterclockwise by 270 degrees on the assumption that information is printed on the card surface f, but the rotational direction may be either direction.

When the rotating frame 32 is rotated 90 degrees and the card c1 is parallel to the second conveying path p2 (indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 4A), the pinch roller 31a of the card reversing section 30.
31b is rotated to send the card c1 toward the information recording section 20. The feeding of the card c1 from the card reversing unit 30 to the information recording unit 20 is completed when the recording start point of the card (the upper end of the card c1 in the figure) reaches the recording position Sr as shown in FIG. 4A. To do.

Next, the information recording process to the card is executed. First, the head advancing / retreating drive unit 2 of the information recording unit 20.
4 operates to move the thermal head 22 toward the card. As a result, the thermal head 22 presses the ink ribbon R against the card surface f, and in this state the card is moved toward the card reversing unit 30 (FIG. 4A).
Arrow), the heating element of the thermal head 22 is selectively heated to thermally transfer the ink component of the ink ribbon onto the card surface, whereby desired image information is printed on the card surface.

When the recording of information on the surface of the card is completed, the card has one of the pinch rollers 31a, 31 of the card reversing section 30 in the vertical state as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 4 (B).
It is captured by b and guided to the center of the card reversing unit 30. After that, the rotation frame 32 of the card reversing unit is rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise (dotted line arrow in FIG. 4B), whereby the surface f of the card c1 faces upward and the end of the first conveyance path p1 is removed. The card is discharged to the card discharge section 50 (solid arrow in FIG. 4B).

The desired information recording processing is executed on one side of the card by the above process. However, when recording on both sides of the card, the card from the information recording section 20 in FIG. Rotate 180 degrees with
Double-sided recording is realized by sending the information to the information recording unit 20 as shown in FIG.

In the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3B, the card c1 sent from the card supply unit 10 is sent.
Is rotated counterclockwise by 3 turns in the reversing section 30 and sent to the information recording section 20. As a result, the completed card is ejected upward as shown in FIG. The rotation direction is 360 degrees, and the same rotation amount is obtained regardless of whether the reversing unit 30 is rotated in the left or right direction. Therefore, the rotation direction of the reversing unit 30 is not limited, and the rotation direction may be determined as necessary. .

As described above, in the recording apparatus of the present invention, the first conveying path p1 provided with the card supply unit 10 and the information recording unit 20 are provided.
By arranging the second conveyance path p2 provided with the substantially orthogonal shape, the elements including the card supply unit and the information recording unit can be arranged compactly, so that the device can be downsized and the handling becomes easy. . By the way, in the conventional recording apparatus having a linear conveying path, the apparatus becomes slender and the volume of the apparatus becomes large, and a large installation space is required, but in the recording apparatus of the present invention, the constituent elements are collected. Since it can be placed, the volume of the device can be reduced, and the length of the device can be shortened, so it can be effectively installed even in a narrow space.

Furthermore, according to the recording apparatus of the present invention, the recording unit (printer) 20 allows only one side of the recording medium to be provided by the card reversing unit 30 which transfers the card between the first conveying path and the second conveying path. Since the card can be turned upside down even if it has only the function of recording information on the card, recording such as printing can be performed on both sides of the card as needed.

In the first embodiment described above, the card ejecting section 50 for ejecting the completed card after the recording process is provided on the downstream side of the first conveying path p1. However, as in the second embodiment shown in FIG. In addition, the card ejection unit 50 may be positioned below the card supply unit 10.

That is, the first transport path p1 and the second transport path p
A third conveyance path p3 extending obliquely from the intersection X of 2 toward the lower side of the card supply unit 10 is provided, and a completed card is placed in a card receiver 51 outside the housing 1 through an opening 50a which is the end of the third conveyance path p3. Is discharged. Although the third conveyance path p3 is substantially formed by a plurality of pairs of conveyance rollers r5, it may be replaced by a guide flat plate or the like.

Also in the second embodiment, the device can be made compact as in the first embodiment. In the second embodiment, the elements having the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment are equivalent or the same constituent elements, and the description of these same elements will be omitted to avoid redundant description.

A second information recording section can be provided on the third conveyance path p3 in the second embodiment. Second information recording unit 2
A third embodiment with 0B is shown in FIG. That is, in the third embodiment, the first information recording unit 2 is provided on the second transport path p2.
0A, and the second information recording unit 20B is provided on the third transport path p3.

Second information recording section 20B in the third embodiment
Is composed of an information writing head 27 such as a magnetic encoder for magnetically recording information on a magnetic strap (reference numeral m in FIG. 1) formed on the surface of a card such as a credit card.

In this information writing head 27, the recording target is I
If it is a C card, it may be a terminal unit of an IC writer for writing information to an IC chip in the card.

The second information recording section 20B has a third conveying path p3.
An information writing head 27, which is provided along the carriage 27, and a pair of conveying rollers 28a, which are provided in front of and behind the head 27,
28b, but the components and the magnetic recording method are not particularly limited. Incidentally, in the case of a magnetic encoder, various information writing is usually carried out by one-pass card transportation to the write head 27 in response to various processing requests such as initialization of a magnetic strap of a card, magnetic writing, and verification, or A plurality of reciprocating conveyances for a plurality of passes are executed, and the conveyance of these cards can be controlled by rotationally driving the conveying rollers 28a and 28b in synchronization with the intended processing.

In the third embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the card discharge section 50 is provided on the downstream side of the first transport path p1. That is, the card ejection unit 50 is provided with the opening 50a at a position corresponding to the first transport path p1 of the housing 1, and the opening 50a
A card receiver 51 is provided on the outside of the.

The housing 1 on the extension of the third conveyance path p3
An opening 60a is provided at a position corresponding to the contact point to form a discarding section 60 for the error card. For example, the second information recording unit 20
When an error is found in the write information as a result of verifying the write information when writing information with the magnetic encoder B, the processing card is regarded as an error card and the opening 60
It is configured to be discharged to the outside of the housing 1 from a. A card receiver or the like may be attached to the discarding unit 60.

Reference numeral r6 is a conveying roller provided between the card reversing section 30 and the second information recording section 20B. In the embodiment of FIG. 6, elements with the same reference numerals in the above-mentioned embodiments are equivalent or identical elements, and thus redundant description will be omitted.

In this embodiment, a printer unit as the first information recording section 20A is provided on the second transport path p2, and a magnetic encoder or an IC writer as the second information recording section 20B is provided on the third transport path p3. But, of course,
As a reverse arrangement, the second information recording unit may be provided on the second transport path p2 and the printer unit may be provided on the third transport path p3.

According to the third embodiment, the second information recording section 20B is arranged by utilizing the space between the card supplying section 10 and the first information recording section 20A which are rationally arranged. A compact structure can be realized despite its function.

A fourth embodiment shown in FIG. 7 is a recording apparatus which is a modification of the embodiment of FIG. 6, in which the first conveying path p1 and the second conveying path p2 intersect at an obtuse angle, and In the third
The conveyance path p3 is formed. That is, the card supply unit 10
The first transport path p1 with the first information recording section 20A, the second transport path p2 with the first information recording section 20A, and the third transport path p3 with the second information recording section 20B are placed at the intersection points X of these. The basic configuration is that the card reversing unit 30 is provided radially.

In the fourth embodiment, the second conveying path p2 is slanted so that the first information recording section 20A is positioned below the discharge section 50 of the completed card and the error card is discarded below the card supply section 10. Since the discarding unit 60 is positioned, the space required for incorporating the constituent elements can be minimized. As a result, a very rational configuration is realized.

In the fourth embodiment, the first information recording section 20A
Is a thermal transfer printer unit for printing information on at least one side of the card, and the second information recording section 20B is a magnetic encoder or IC writer for magnetically recording information, but these recording methods or configurations are not limited. . Alternatively, the second information recording unit 20B may be provided in the second transport path p2 and the printer unit may be provided in the third transport path p3, as in the above embodiment.

Further, as in the fifth embodiment shown in FIG.
Both of the information recording units 20A and 20B provided on the second transport path p2 and the third transport path p3 may be configured by a thermal transfer printer unit.

In the recording apparatus having two print units, for example, the printer unit of the first information recording section 20A performs monochromatic printing of characters and the like, and the second information recording section 20A.
The printer unit of B can perform multicolor printing of color photographs or images. In this case, in the ink cartridge 23A of the first information recording unit 20A, the printer unit that performs monochromatic printing stores the ink ribbon Ra to which the monochromatic (for example, black) heat-melting thermal transfer ink is continuously applied, and the second information. A thermal sublimation thermal transfer ink of a required number of colors (for example, yellow, magenta, and cyan capable of reproducing a full color) is provided in the ink cartridge 23B of the recording unit 20B for each frame having a length corresponding to the length of the printing surface of the card. The ink ribbon Rb applied in order is stored. Furthermore, in order to laminate the transparent protective seal on the surface of the card on which the image printing has been completed by thermal transfer, it is possible to attach the transparent protective seal material to a part of one of the ink ribbons. These thermal transfer printing methods may be applied by conventional techniques and are not particularly limited in the present invention.

In the fifth embodiment, an error card discarding unit is not provided, but as seen in the above embodiment, the card discarding unit is provided at a position corresponding to the housing 1 on the extension line of the third transport path as needed. The opening may be provided. Also in this embodiment, the elements having the same reference numerals as those in the above-mentioned embodiment are equivalent or identical elements.

The sixth embodiment shown in FIG. 9 is a recording obtained by further modifying the basic structure in which the first, second and third conveying paths, which are the concept of the present invention, are arranged radially around the card reversing portion. It is a device. That is, the card reversing unit 30 is positioned in the middle of the first conveyance path p1 extending substantially horizontally from the card supply unit 10, and the second conveyance is performed with the rotation axis of the rotation frame 32 of the card reversing unit 30 as the center (intersection point) X. The path p2 is formed obliquely downward from the center X, and the third conveyance path p3 is formed obliquely upward from the center X.

Here, a thermal transfer printer unit is arranged as the first information recording section 20A on the second conveying path p2, and a magnetic encoder is arranged as the second information recording section 20B on the third conveying path p3. .

The output section 50 for the completed card has the first transport path p.
It is located at the opposite end (downstream end) of the card supply unit 10 with respect to the intersection point X of 1. Further, in this embodiment, the passage extending from the intersection X to the lower side of the card supply unit 10 is used as the card discard passage p4 for discarding the error card. Similar to the above embodiment, when an error is detected in the card processing in any of the processing units, the error card is ejected from the opening 60a to the card receiver 61 via the card discarding path p4.

Also in this embodiment, the elements having the same reference numerals as those in the above-mentioned embodiments are equivalent or the same elements, and the duplicated description will be omitted.

According to the sixth embodiment, the card supply unit 1
0, the first information recording unit 20A, the second information recording unit 20B, the card ejecting unit 50, the card discarding unit 60, all the constituent elements are arranged radially around the card reversing unit 30 as a first conveying path p1. , The second transport path p2 and the third transport path p3 are collectively arranged, so that a multifunctional device capable of recording various information on a card can be compactly configured.

In the illustrated embodiment, the card supply unit 10
Although the first transport path p1 including the first transport path is arranged substantially horizontally, the first transport path does not necessarily have to be substantially horizontal, and an appropriate angle can be provided according to application conditions of the recording apparatus, According to the inclination state of the first transport path, the angular relationship can be configured so as not to interfere with the information recording unit provided in another transport path.

As described above, according to the present invention, the second conveying path having the first information recording section is made to intersect the first conveying path having the card supplying section in a substantially orthogonal manner, and The third conveyance path provided with the second information recording section is crossed, and the card reversing section is provided at the first, second, and third intersections, and the card reversing section rotates the card supplied from the card supply section. Since the card is fed to the second to third conveyance paths, the card feeding section can secure a sufficient storage capacity for the blank card, and at the same time, can improve the card conveyance performance and a plurality of processing capabilities such as printing and encoding. It is possible to provide a card recording device which can be made compact without lowering the degree of freedom and which has improved the degree of freedom in the layout design of each component. Also, since the card reversing section is provided at the intersection of the plurality of transport paths, various information can be efficiently recorded on the front and back of the card, which is a recording medium, and moreover, such a function is stable and reliable with a simple drive / control system. Can be executed. Moreover, according to the present invention, since each actuating element can be rationally controlled to be driven by the minimum driving source, a plurality of recording media can be processed with high efficiency without interfering with each other.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a recording device for cards and the like according to the present invention, as partially seen through.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view showing a first embodiment of a recording device for cards of the present invention having card conveying paths arranged substantially orthogonally.

3A and 3B are explanatory views showing a card processing process in the recording apparatus of the first embodiment.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are explanatory views showing a card processing process in the recording apparatus of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic front view showing a second embodiment of the recording apparatus for cards of the present invention, which has card conveying paths arranged substantially orthogonally.

FIG. 6 is a schematic front view showing a third embodiment of the recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic front view showing a fourth embodiment of the recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic front view showing a fifth embodiment of the recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic front view showing a sixth embodiment of the recording apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

C recording medium (card) p1 first transport path p2 second transport path p3 Third transport path X intersection 10 Card supply section 13 Open / close lid 13a Card alignment piece 20 Information recording section 20A First information recording section 20B Second information recording section 21 Platen roller 22 Thermal head 30 Card flip section 40 cleaner 50 Card eject section

Front page continuation (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) B65H 5/00 B65H 29/58 B 3F102 29/58 G06K 13/07 D 5B023 G06K 13/07 B41J 3/516 F term ( (Reference) 2C005 HA12 JA01 JA26 KA40 LA07 LA14 LA30 MA16 PA21 RA10 2C055 HH00 HH02 2C059 AA02 BB11 DD02 3F053 BA03 BA14 BA19 CA06 LA07 LB09 3F101 AB03 AB07 AB13 LA07 LB09 3F102 AA11 AB05 BA11 BB12 5B02 FA07 FA02 FA07 FA02 FA02 FA02 FA07 FA02 FA01 FA07

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A card supply unit, which is provided on the first transport path and stores one or more cards, and sends the cards one by one to the first transport path, and intersects the first transport path in a substantially orthogonal shape. A first information recording section which is provided on a second transport path and prints information on the card supplied from the card supply section; and a first information recording section which is provided on a third transport path intersecting the first transport path and which records information on the card 2 An information recording unit and a card reversing unit that is provided at an intersection of the first, second, and third transport paths to rotate the card, and the card reversing unit rotates the card supplied from the card supply unit. The card recording apparatus, wherein the card is sent to the second to third transport paths. 2. The card recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a cleaner for cleaning the card is provided on the way of the first transport path between the card supply section and the card reversing section. 3. The card recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the card reversing unit has a roller that holds the card and is rotatable in the forward and reverse directions. 4. The card recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a card ejection section for ejecting a card at an end of the first transport path. 5. The card recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a card ejection section for ejecting a card at an end of the third transport path. 6. The card according to claim 1, wherein the first information recording section is a thermal transfer printer unit, and the second information recording section is a magnetic encoder. Recording device. 7. The card according to claim 1, wherein the first information recording section is a thermal transfer printer unit, and the second information recording section is an IC writer. Recording device.