Card reader

In an apparatus for reading the information stored on a card in a plurality of information positions forming a data matrix, said matrix having M rows by N columns with each information position being characterized by one of two states representing a binary zero or a binary 1, said apparatus including:

• A. guide means for accepting a manually inserted card and guiding said card in a first direction along a predetermined path as said card is inserted in said guide means at an arbitrary speed,
• B. a first linear array of M row data detection elements extending in said first direction and positioned adjacent to said guide means for sensing the leading edge of said card as it is carried along said guide means in said first direction, and wherein the spacing of said row data detection elements is related to the spacing of the rows in said data matrix,
• C. a second linear array of N column data detection elements perpendicular to said first array and positioned with respect to said guide means so that each of said column data detection elements detects the state of the correspondingly located information positioned in a row of said data matrix on said card as said row passes over said second array,
• D. circuit means coupled to said first and second arrays and providing, as the leading edge of a card passes over each detection element in said first array at said arbitrary speed, that the detection elements of said second array are read out to provide output signals indicating for each column of said data matrix on said card the binary value for each information position in the related row of said data matrix, the improvement comprising:
• a memory means having an addressed location associated with each of said N columns of said data matrix, and wherein said circuit means provides a sequence of signals to said memory for each information position of said data matrix at which a binary 1 is detected by the elements of said second array, each of said sequence of signals being stored at the specific address location within said memory corresponding to the column of said detected binary 1, such that after one of said cards has been fully passed along said guide means in said first direction with each of said rows of said data matrix having passed over said array of column data detection elements, data signals representative of the binary state of each information position in said N column by M row data matrix is stored in said associated addressed location in said memory.

In an apparatus for reading the information stored on a card in a plurality of information positions forming a data matrix, said matrix having M rows by N columns with each information position being characterized by one of two states representing a binary zero or a binary 1, said apparatus including:

• A. guide means for accepting a manually inserted card and guiding said card in a first direction along a predetermined path as said card is inserted in said guide means at an arbitrary speed,
• B. a first linear array of M row data detection elements extending in said first direction and positioned adjacent to said guide means for sensing the leading edge of said card as it is carried along said guide means in said first direction, and wherein the spacing of said row data detection elements is related to the spacing of the rows in said data matrix,
• C. a second linear array of N column data detection elements perpendicular to said first array and positioned with respect to said guide means so that each of said column data detection elements detects the state of the correspondingly located information positioned in a row of said data matrix on said card as said row passes over said second array,
• D. circuit means coupled to said first and second arrays and providing, as the leading edge of a card passes over each detection element in said first array at said arbitrary speed, that the detection elements of said second array are read out to provide output signals indicating for each column of said data matrix on said card the binary value for each information position in the related row of said data matrix, the improvement comprising:
• i. a decoding means, said decoding means being successively responsive to each of said rows of detection elements in said second array to generate a sequence of decoded signals, each sequence being representative of the information stored at the positions of said data matrix overlying said second array when the leading edge of a card passes over a detection element in said first array, and
• ii. a memory means for storing each of said decoded signals, said memory means having an addressed location associated with each of said N rows of said data matrix, such that after one of said cards has been fully passed along said guide means in said first direction with each of said rows of said data matrix having passed over said second array, a data signal representative of the information stored at each row of positions of said data matrix is stored in said associated location in said memory.