Card reader
AssigneeMatsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
InventorsKazutaka Sakamoto, Mikio Kawasaki, Hiroyuki Ueta, Sinji Arase
Life of this patent
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Abstract
To provide a card reader adaptable to a variety of cards and excelling in card carrying ease. The card reader includes: a card passage; a carrying unit for moving a card within the passage, a data recording/reproducing unit for at least either recording data onto or reproducing data out of the card present in the passage, an image forming unit for forming a visible image on the card, and an image erasing unit for erasing any visible image formed on the card, and has a configuration of handling cards differing in thickness.
Claims11
A card reader operable to handle cards differing in thickness, said card reader comprising:
- a card passage;
- a carrier for moving a card present within said passage;
- data recording/reproducing means for at least either recording data onto or reproducing data out of the card;
- an image former for forming a visible image on the card;
- and
- an image eraser for erasing any visible image formed on the card, wherein:
- said data recording/reproducing means determines the thickness of the card by reading data recorded on the card.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.