Smartcard Cleaning and Sorting Systems and Methods
AssigneeDISH Network L.L.C.
InventorsJimmy A. Pollard, Zachary S. Morrison, Aldo Alvidrez
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Various arrangements are presented for cleaning and sorting smartcards. An identifier present on the exterior of the smartcard may be scanned. A smartcard may be dispensed from an intake magazine that housing a plurality of smartcards. The smartcard may be moved along a cleaning assembly. The contacts of the smartcard may be cleaned. The contacts of the smartcard may be dried. After cleaning and drying the contacts of the smartcard, the smartcard may be sorted into either a cleaned output magazine or a cleaned rejection tray based on whether the scanning of the identifier was successfully performed.
Claims20
A transaction card cleaning and sorting apparatus, comprising:
- a housing;
- an uncleaned intake magazine for housing a plurality of transaction cards that dispenses each transaction card of the plurality of transaction cards individually, the uncleaned intake magazine coupled with the housing, wherein each transaction card comprises a machine-readable identifier;
- an identifier scanner attached with the housing that attempts to read the machine-readable identifier of each 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;
- a sorting assembly, coupled with the housing, that 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 based on whether the identifier scanner successfully read the machine-readable identifier of the transaction card;
- and
- a cleaned output magazine, coupled with the housing, that receives and stores at least a subset of the plurality of transaction cards received from the sorting assembly, wherein each transaction card of the at least the subset of the plurality of transaction cards had the machine-readable identifier of the transaction card successfully scanned by the identifier scanner.
A method for cleaning and sorting transaction cards, the method comprising:
- scanning an identifier present on the exterior of a transaction card, wherein the identifier is a machine-readable code;
- dispensing the transaction card from an intake magazine that houses a plurality of transaction cards;
- after dispensing the transaction card, moving the transaction card along a cleaning assembly;
- cleaning the transaction card by a cleaning assembly;
- and
- after cleaning the transaction card, sorting the transaction card into either a cleaned output magazine or a cleaned rejection tray based on whether the scanning of the identifier was successfully performed prior to moving the transaction card along the cleaning assembly.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.