Patent · US Expired

System for detecting punched holes of magnetic cards

US5198646A · kind A · utility

5Cited by
1References
5Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateDec 18, 1991
Grant dateMar 30, 1993
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 18, 2011

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06K2019/06271
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The present invention comprises a magnetic card 1 in which punched holes 5 are punched to indicate incidence of use data and a punched hole detection apparatus 4 for detecting the punched holes 5 of the magnetic card 1. The magnetic card 1 has a hole punch section 3 in the shape of a strip. The punched hole section 3 has a plurality of small segments 31 in a row which are arranged parallel to the length of the card, and two kinds of ink having different optical characteristics are applied to the small segments 31 according to prescribed rules. The punched hole detection apparatus 4 comprises a light source for shooting rays of light used to distinguish the two kinds of ink onto the punched hole section 3; a light-receiving section for receiving rays of light reflected by the hole punch section 3 of the magnetic card 1 and for outputting a light reception signal; a pattern storage section 45 for storing predefined signal patterns for normal magnetic cards 1; and a comparison section 44 for comparing the light reception signal from the light-receiving section with normal signal patterns stored by the pattern storage section 45.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.