Card processing device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11724903-B2
Application number	US-201716334987-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 4, 2017
Priority date	Sep 30, 2016
Publication date	Aug 15, 2023
Grant date	Aug 15, 2023

Abstract

A card processing device may include a print unit and a card inverting unit that inverts front/rear of the card. The print unit may include a thermal head and a card conveyance mechanism. The card inverting unit may include a card holding part, a card drawing and feeding mechanism, and a rotating mechanism that rotates the card holding part. A conveyance path may be provided inside the card holding part. The conveyance path may be linear. The card drawing and feeding mechanism may include two drive rollers, and two pad rollers. A distance between a center of the drive roller and a center of the thermal head may be shorter than a length of the card. The thermal head may print on the card while the card conveyance mechanism conveys the card. The rotating mechanism may rotate the card holding part such that the conveyance path is inclined.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A card processing device for use with a card, the card processing device comprising:
a print unit that prints on the card;
a card inverting unit that inverts front/rear of the card; and
a controller, wherein
the print unit comprises a thermal head structured to heat an ink ribbon and transfer ink of the ink ribbon to print on the card, and a card conveyance mechanism structured to convey the card,
when a conveyance direction of the card conveyed by the card conveyance mechanism is defined as a first direction, a thickness direction of the card conveyed by the card conveyance mechanism is defined as a second direction, a direction orthogonal to the first direction and the second direction is defined as a third direction, one side in the first direction is defined as a fourth direction side, and the other side opposite to the fourth direction side is defined as a fifth direction side,
the card inverting unit comprises a card holding part structured to temporarily hold the card therein, a card drawing and feeding mechanism structured to draw the card into the card holding part and feed the card out of the card holding part, and a rotating mechanism structured to rotate the card holding part with the third direction being a rotational axis direction,
a conveyance path along which the card is conveyed is provided inside the card holding part,
the conveyance path when viewed from the third direction is linear in shape,
the thermal head is disposed on the fourth direction side with respect to the card holding part,
the card drawing and feeding mechanism comprises two drive rollers arranged on both end sides of the conveyance path, and two pad rollers, each of the pad rollers being disposed to face each of the two drive rollers, and is structured to feed the card on the fourth direction side in a first state in which the conveyance path is parallel to the first direction when viewed from the third direction,
in a first state, the conveyance path of the card holding part is aligned to be parallel to the first direction when viewed from the third direction, and the card drawing and feeding mechanism feeds the card on the fourth direction side,
in a second state, the conveyance path of the card holding part is aligned to be inclined with respect to the first direction when viewed from the third direction and printing is performed on the card with the thermal head,
in the print unit, the thermal head is structured to perform printing on the card while the card conveyance mechanism conveys the card toward the fifth direction side,
a recessed part is defined in a center of an outer surface of the card holding part and surrounded by the outer surface of the card holding part,
the recessed part is structured such that, when the card holding part is rotated during printing on the card, an opening of the recessed part faces the fourth direction side, and
the controller controls the rotating mechanism to change the first state into the second state by rotating the card holding part when the card approaches to the card holding part and controls before the card is inserted into the card holding part so that at least a portion of the card is disposed inside the recessed part in the second state and an end of the card on the fifth direction side conveyed to the fifth direction side is prevented from being in contact with the card holding part.

2. The card processing device according to claim 1 , wherein:
the card holding part is substantially rectangular in shape when viewed from the third direction;
the conveyance path is provided parallel to a longitudinal direction of the card holding part that is substantially rectangular in shape when viewed from the third direction.

3. The card processing device according to claim 2 , wherein
the rotating mechanism is structured such that, during printing on the card, the rotating mechanism rotates the card holding part such that the conveyance path is inclined 90 degrees with respect to the first direction when viewed from the third direction.

4. The card processing device according to claim 1 , wherein:
the card holding part is substantially rectangular in shape when viewed from the third direction;
the conveyance path is provided parallel to a longitudinal direction of the card holding part that is substantially rectangular in shape when viewed from the third direction;
when one surface in a transverse direction of the card holding part when viewed from the third direction is defined as a first transverse direction surface, the recessed part is provided in the first transverse direction surface; and
the rotating mechanism is structured to rotate the card holding part such that the first transverse direction surface faces the fourth direction side during printing on the card.

5. The card processing device according to claim 1 , wherein:
when a direction orthogonal to a direction in which the conveyance path is provided when viewed from the third direction is defined as an orthogonal direction,
the drive rollers are disposed to face the conveyance path from one side in the orthogonal direction;
the pad rollers are disposed to face the conveyance path from the other side in the orthogonal direction; and
the recessed part is provided on the other side in the orthogonal direction with respect to the conveyance path.

6. The card processing device according to claim 1 , wherein
the recessed part is provided between the two pad rollers in a direction in which the conveyance path is provided when viewed from the third direction.

7. The card processing device according to claim 1 , wherein
the recessed part is provided between the two pad rollers in a direction in which the conveyance path is provided when viewed from the third direction.

8. The card processing device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a conveyance roller pair including a drive roller and a cleaning roller, the conveyance roller pair being provided between the thermal head and the card holding part,
wherein, a roller retraction mechanism is arranged to move the cleaning roller to a roller retracted position when the thermal head moves to a printing position.

Assignees

• Nidec Sankyo Corp

Inventors

• Ohta Keiji
• Yokoyama Satoshi

Classifications

• B65H29/125 Primary

  between two sets of rollers · CPC title

• B41J3/50

  Mechanisms producing characters by printing and also producing a record by other means {, e.g. printer combined with RFID writer} · CPC title

• B41J11/006

  Means for preventing paper jams or for facilitating their removal · CPC title

• B41J13/12

  specially adapted for {small} cards, envelopes, or the like {, e.g. credit cards, cut visiting cards} · CPC title

• B65H5/062

  between rollers or balls · CPC title