Registers – Systems controlled by data bearing records – Credit or identification card systems
Patent
1987-06-25
1989-03-07
Pellinen, A. D.
Registers
Systems controlled by data bearing records
Credit or identification card systems
235454, 235448, 70DIG51, 340542, 34082531, 361177, 250221, G06K 710
Patent
active
048108618
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to an information carrier and to a reader for reading information from the carrier.
Information carriers in the form of cards, with which there are associated magnetic fields representing the information, and readers for reading the magnetically encoded cards are well known. A further example of an information carrier of a well-known form is a key having notches or other formations which identify the key. For verifying the key applied to a lock, it is common for the lock to be equipped with tumblers which are engaged by the formations on the key and set in respective releasing positions by those formations. In at least some circumstances, a key is a more convenient and more reliable portable information carrier than is a magnetically encoded card but the number of different keys which can be verified by a traditional tumbler lock is small; whereas a card-reader can verify a very large number of different cards.
In GB No. 2,055,951, there is disclosed a pin-tumbler cylinder lock having means for sensing the movement of one tumbler and providing an electrical signal representing movement of that tumbler. The lock also includes a number of electrical contacts which are spaced apart along the keyway and the hey has, along a first edge, notches for positioning the tumblers and, along a second edge, electrical contact elements for contacting selected ones of the contact elements of the lock. Accordingly, the key can be verified by means of positioning of the tumblers in the usual way by the key, by means of movement of one of the tumblers during insertion of the key and by means of sensing of electrically conductive parts of the key.
The present invention provides an information carrier and a reader therefore, in which carrier the information is represented by formations having a mechanical character and the reader being capable of providing an electrical signal representing said formations. By a reader, we mean herein a device which has a member for receiving the information carrier but which member does not have tumblers moved by the carrier into releasing positions. The receiving member of a reader which forms a part of a combination in accordance with the present invention defines a path along which an information-bearing part of the carrier is moved during reading and the reader includes a contact element mounted in the receiving member for movement relative thereto transversely of said path and for engaging the formations of the carrier during reading, a signalling means for providing a signal representing the information from the carrier and transmitting means for transmitting motion from the contact element to a signalling means, the transmitting means including a lever arranged for pivoting relative to the receiving member about an axis which is transverse to the length of said path.
The lever may be arranged for amplifying the movement of the contact element and applying the amplified movement to the signalling means.
The contact element may be a rolling element mounted in the receiving member for rolling on an information carrier, when moved along said path. A follower may be interposed between the contact element and the lever.
The receiving member preferably defines a channel in which the lever, or at least a part of the lever, is disposed.
The receiving member preferably defines an elongated slot for receiving an information-bearing part of the carrier. The carrier may further comprise a head which cannot enter the slot of the receiving member. The lever preferably extends in a direction parallel to the length of the slot to a position which is beyond the end of the information-bearing part of the carrier, when that part is fully inserted into the slot.
Examples of information carriers and readers embodying the present invention will now be described, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a first information carrier;
FIG. 2 shows separated from each other components of a reader for reading the carrier of FIG. 1; and
FIG. 3 sh
REFERENCES:
patent: 3627994 (1971-12-01), Sallach et al.
patent: 3889501 (1975-06-01), Fort
patent: 4333073 (1982-06-01), Caruso
patent: 4721956 (1988-01-01), Demster
Herriott Victor L.
Jefferies Roy S.
Lowe & Fletcher Limited
Pellinen A. D.
Williams H. L.
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