# US 2008/0184903 A1 · Card cleaning mechanism, card cleaning method and card printing apparatus > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2008/0184903 A1 - Document ID: US20080184903A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 12/003,260 - Filed: 2007-12-21 - Published: 2008-08-07 - Earliest claimed: 2006-12-28 - Assignees: Nisca Corporation - Inventors: Daisuke Kaneoya; Toshiro Fujimoto - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20080184903A1 ## CPC - B41J 11/0015: {for treating before, during or after printing or for uniform coating or laminating the copy material before or after printing (selective coating B41J2/2114)} - B41J 13/12: specially adapted for {small} cards, envelopes, or the like {, e.g. credit cards, cut visiting cards} - B41J: TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS ## Abstract A card cleaning mechanism has a cleaning roller that cleans a surface of a card by contacting the conveyed card, and a roller-shaped cleaner that cleans a surface of the cleaning roller by contacting the cleaning roller. The cleaning roller is configured to move between a retreated position separated from a card conveyance path, and an operating position contacting a surface of the card being conveyed and the roller-shaped cleaner by advancing into the card conveyance path. Accordingly, the card cleaning mechanism can securely remove dust and dirt adhering to the card printing surface and does not reduce card printing quality. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A card cleaning apparatus comprising: a first card cleaning member adapted to clean a surface of a card by contact the card while being conveyed; and a second card cleaning member for cleaning a surface of the first card cleaning member by contacting a surface of the first card cleaning member, wherein the first card cleaning member is configured to move between a retreated position spaced from a card conveyance path, and an operating position where the first card cleaning member touches the surface of the card being conveyed and contacts the second card cleaning member by advancing into the card conveyance path. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The card cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second card cleaning member is disposed in a predetermined position separated from the card conveyance path. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The card cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a holding unit that holds the first card cleaning member; and a drive unit that drives the holding unit, wherein the drive unit directly or indirectly pushes the holding unit to move the first card cleaning member to the operating position. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The card cleaning apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the drive unit has a solenoid, a plunger that advances and retreats by the solenoid being switched, a lever member rotatably mounted to one edge of the plunger, and an engaging member that engages the other edge of the lever member, the holding unit being mounted to a portion of the engaging member. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The card cleaning apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the holding unit is detachably mounted to the engaging member. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The card cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first and second card cleaning members are both composed of roller members, and the roller member of the second card cleaning member has a diameter smaller than that of the first card cleaning member. ### Claim 7 A card cleaning method comprising the steps of: an operation position moving process of moving a first card cleaning member to an operating position in a card conveyance path to contact a card being conveyed; a first cleaning process where the first card cleaning member cleans a surface of the card by contacting the card being conveyed in the card conveyance path; a second cleaning process where the second card cleaning member cleans a surface of the first card cleaning member by contacting the first card cleaning member positioned at the operating position; a card detection process where the card being conveyed is detected after the first and the second cleaning processes; and a retreating process where the first card cleaning member is moved to a retreated position separated from the card conveyance path using the detection of the card in the card detection process as a trigger, wherein each process is repeated for each card being conveyed over the card conveyance path. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The card cleaning method according to claim 7, wherein the first cleaning process and the second cleaning process are conducted at the same time. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) A card printing apparatus comprising: the card cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, and a printing unit that prints images on the card, a surface thereof being cleaned by the card cleaning mechanism. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The card printing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the printing unit has an ink media that forms the images, and a cartridge that houses the ink media, and the second card cleaning member is fastened to a portion of the cartridge at a predetermined position separated from the card conveyance path. ### Claim 11 (depends on 9) The card printing apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising: a holding unit that holds the first card cleaning member; a drive unit that moves the holding unit; and a control unit that controls the drive unit, the control unit controlling the drive unit to directly or indirectly push the holding unit to move the first card cleaning member to the operating position. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The card printing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the control unit controls the drive unit according to print execution commands for each card, and moves the first card cleaning member from the retreated position to the operating position. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The card printing apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising: a detection member disposed between the card cleaning mechanism and printing unit, for detecting the card being conveyed, wherein the control unit controls the drive unit by using detection of the card by the detection member as a trigger to move the first card cleaning member from the operation position to the retreated position. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The card printing apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising: a card discharge outlet to discharge the card printed at the printing unit, wherein the control unit controls the drive unit so that the first card cleaning member is held at the retreated position when the card is conveyed toward the card discharge outlet. ### Claim 15 (depends on 9) The card printing apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising: a card supply unit that supplies blank cards prior to being printed at the printing unit, wherein the first and the second card cleaning members are disposed between the card supply unit and printing unit.