Smartcard cleaning and sorting systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10695801-B2
Application number	US-201916392441-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 23, 2019
Priority date	Aug 18, 2017
Publication date	Jun 30, 2020
Grant date	Jun 30, 2020

Abstract

Various arrangements are presented for cleaning and sorting transaction cards. A transaction card may be dispensed from an intake magazine that houses a plurality of smartcards. The transaction card may be moved along a cleaning assembly. After cleaning the transaction card, the transaction card may be sorted and output into an output magazine. A card sensor may be used to determine when a next transaction card should be dispensed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A transaction card cleaning and sorting apparatus, comprising:
a housing;
an intake magazine for housing a plurality of transaction cards from which each transaction card of the plurality of transaction cards is individually dispensed, wherein the intake magazine coupled with the housing;
a roller assembly along which each of the plurality of transaction cards is advanced after being dispensed by the intake magazine, wherein the roller assembly is coupled with the housing;
a first card sensor that: detects when each transaction card of the plurality of transaction cards has advanced to a first position along the roller assembly; and, in response to detecting when each transaction card of the plurality of transaction cards has advanced to the first position, outputting a first signal that is used to trigger the intake magazine to dispense another transaction card of the plurality of transaction cards;
a cleaning assembly, coupled with the housing, that cleans each transaction card of the plurality of transaction cards, wherein the cleaning assembly is coupled with the housing; and
an output magazine, coupled with the housing, that receives and stores at least a subset of the plurality of transaction cards after passing through the cleaning assembly.

2. The transaction card cleaning and sorting apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a sorting assembly, coupled with the housing, that individually receives the plurality of transaction cards following each transaction card of the plurality of transaction cards passing through the cleaning assembly and sorts each transaction card of the plurality of transaction cards.

3. The transaction card cleaning and sorting apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising a second card sensor that detects when each transaction card of the plurality of transaction cards has advanced to a second position along the roller assembly; and, in response to detecting when each transaction card of the plurality of transaction cards has advanced to the second position, outputting a second signal that is used to trigger the sorting assembly.

4. The transaction card cleaning and sorting apparatus of claim 3 , further comprising: an identifier scanner attached with the housing that attempts to read a machine-readable identifier of each transaction card of the plurality of transaction cards.

5. The transaction card cleaning and sorting apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising an electronic controller, wherein the electronic controller receives the second signal from the second card sensor and determine whether to trigger the sorting assembly based on an output of the identifier scanner.

6. The transaction card cleaning and sorting apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising an electronic controller, wherein the electronic controller receives the first signal from the first card sensor and triggers dispensing of a transaction card of the plurality of transaction cards from the intake magazine at least partially based on the first signal.

7. The transaction card cleaning and sorting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each transaction card of the plurality of transaction cards is a smartcard that comprises a plurality of metallic contacts.

8. The transaction card cleaning and sorting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each transaction card of the plurality of transaction cards is a magnetic stripe transaction card that comprises a magnetic stripe.

9. The transaction card cleaning and sorting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the roller assembly comprises a plurality of rollers, wherein a first subset of the plurality of rollers contact a first side of each transaction card of the plurality of transaction cards passing through the cleaning assembly and a second subset of the plurality of rollers contact a second side of each transaction card of the plurality of transaction cards passing through the cleaning assembly.

10. The transaction card cleaning and sorting apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the roller assembly further comprises a plurality of tensioning springs, wherein each tensioning spring of the plurality of tensioning springs has an adjustable tension controlling pressure of a roller of the plurality of rollers on the plurality of transaction cards as each transaction card passes through the cleaning assembly.

11. The transaction card cleaning and sorting apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising a drive system, wherein the drive system causes at least some rollers of the plurality of rollers of the roller assembly to turn to individually advance the plurality of transaction cards through the cleaning assembly.

12. The transaction card cleaning and sorting apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the drive system further comprises a roller chain that mechanically connects the at least some of the plurality of rollers with a drive assembly.

13. The transaction card cleaning and sorting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cleaning assembly comprises a plurality of liquid sprays that spray liquid on one or more brushes of the cleaning assembly.

14. The transaction card cleaning and sorting apparatus of claim 4 wherein the identifier scanner is an optical scanner that attempts to read a code from each transaction card of the plurality of transaction cards selected from the group consisting of:
an alphanumeric code;
a barcode;
a QR-code; and
a color-coded symbol.

15. The transaction card cleaning and sorting apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising a computerized user interface device in communication with the identifier scanner, wherein the computerized user interface device outputs indications of the machine-readable identifiers successfully scanned by the identifier scanner.

16. The transaction card cleaning and sorting apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising a cleaned reject tray, coupled with the housing, that receives and stores at least a second subset of the plurality of transaction cards received from the sorting assembly, wherein each transaction card of the at least the second subset of the plurality of transaction cards had its machine-readable identifier unsuccessfully scanned by the identifier scanner.

17. A method for cleaning and sorting transaction cards, the method comprising:
dispensing a first individual transaction card from an intake magazine that houses a plurality of transaction cards;
advancing the first individual transaction card along a roller assembly;
detecting, using a first card sensor, the first individual transaction card, based on the first individual transaction card being advanced to a position along the roller assembly;
outputting, by the first card sensor, a signal indicative of the first card sensor detecting the first individual transaction card;
dispensing a second individual transaction card of the plurality of transaction cards from the intake magazine based on the signal indicative of the first card sensor detecting the first individual transaction card;
cleaning the transaction card by a cleaning assembly; and
after cleaning the transaction card, outputting the first individual transaction card into an output magazine.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
after cleaning the transaction card, sorting the first individual transaction card based upon an identifier present on the first individual transaction card.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:
detecting, using a second card sensor, that the first individual transaction card has advanced to a second position along the roller assembly.

20. The method of claim 19 ,

Assignees

• Dish Network Llc

Inventors

• Pollard Jimmy A
• Morrison Zachary S
• Alvidrez Aldo

Classifications

• B08B1/34

  rotating about an axis parallel to the surface · CPC title

• B07C5/3412 Primary

  according to a code applied to the object which indicates a property of the object, e.g. quality class, contents or incorrect indication (sorting according to size measured by light-responsive means B07C5/10; sorting according to optical properties B07C5/342; for packages B65D79/02; for information carriers G06K7/00) · CPC title

• B08B1/20 Primary

  Cleaning of moving articles, e.g. of moving webs or of objects on a conveyor · CPC title

• G06K19/045

  the record carrier being of the non-contact type, e.g. RFID, and being specially adapted for attachment to a disc, e.g. a CD or DVD · CPC title

• B07C5/02

  Measures preceding sorting, e.g. arranging articles in a stream orientating {(sorting and transport of caps B67B3/06)} · CPC title