Moving Head Reader Mechanism

This invention relates to an apparatus for reading data from a document and more particularly to an apparatus for reading characters on a bank check.

As disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,978 and assigned to the assignee of the present application, the processing of bank check documents includes reading and imprinting of magnetic characters (MICR) representing the amount of the check directly on the check document for confirming such amount. Further check document processing operations include signature verification, listing and balancing of amounts for use in the proofing of the documents, encoding information on the check documents for use in distribution, and reading, and displaying encoded data located on the check document. Prior mechanisms employed in processing check documents have been of the large stationary console type located in the back offices of banking institutions. With the introduction of funds transfer systems, i.e., where remote terminals are available for direct access by customers) the need for a portable MICR reader for reading magnetically imprinted data on check documents or other business documents at the location where such documents are entered into the banking system becomes apparent. It is therefore a principle object of this invention to provide a portable apparatus for reading magnetically encoded characters on a document. A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for reading encoded data on a flexible thin stock document in which the document is held in a vertically orientated position during the reading operation. It is another object of this invention to provide a check document processing apparatus which is simple in contsruction and therefore low in cost.

In order to carry out these objects, there is provided an apparatus for reading magnetically encoded characters on a check or other type of business document which includes a carriage member mounted for translational movement and supporting a magnetic read/write head member. Associated with the carriage member is a pivotally mounted support member on which is positioned the check document to be processed. Rotation of the support member by the operator when positioning the check document on the support member energizes actuating members to move a clamping member into engagment with the check document together with further rotating the support member to a position enabling the carriage member to be driven past the clamped check document. Sensing means associated with the support member and the carriage member control the operation of the support and the carriage members during a document processing operation.

Additional advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent and fully understood from the reading of the following description taken together with the annexed drawings;

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the MICR reader apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the reader apparatus with the cover removed showing the transport mechanism with a portion of the clamping member removed to show details of the magnetic read head.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged front view of a portion of the transport mechanism taken on lines 3-3 of FIG. 2 showing details of the magnetic head carriage assembly and the document clamping member.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the transport mechanism taken on lines 4-4 of FIG. 2 showing location of the document support member when in a home and actuated position.

FIG. 5, comprising FIGS. 5A and 5B taken together, is a block diagram of the control circuit which controls the operation of the reader apparatus.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a perspective view of the MICR reader apparatus designated generally by the numeral 20 and which comprises a sloping front cover portion 22 within which is located an elongated recessed area 24 terminating in a slot 26 and a vertical extending rear wall portion 28. A rear cover portion 30 is secured to the rear of the front cover portion 22. Located adjacent the recessed area 24 is a pair of status light members 31 which, when operated, indicate the condition of the reader apparatus prior to a scanning operation and at the completion of a scanning operation. As will be described more fully hereinafter, the positioning of a check document within the slot 26 followed by a slight downward movement of the check document results in the clamping of the check document in a sensing position followed by either a read or write operation.

Referring now to FIGS. 2-4 inclusive, there is shown details of the reader transport mechanism which includes a magnetic head carriage assembly and the document positioning mechanism for positioning the inserted check document in a sensing position. The transport mechanism includes a base member 32 to which is mounted an elongated back guide member 34 by means of screw members 36 or the like (FIG. 3). The guide member 34 has a centrally located cut-out portion 38 extending adjacent the base member 32 through which is located the upturned front portion 40 of a document support member 42 having a stop surface portion 43 (FIG. 2) which is normally positioned in the path of movement of the carriage assembly generally indicated by the numeral 76 (FIG. 4) when the support member 42 is in the home position as shown in phantom lines in FIG. 4. As best shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the support member 42 includes a turned down rear edge portion 44 rotatably mounted on a shaft 46 extending between a pair of mounting arms 48 (FIG. 2) secured to the base member 32. Mounted adjacent a lower edge of the edge portion 44 is a LED-photoelectric cell sensor member 50 for sensing the location of the edge portion 44. A second LED-photoelectric cell sensor member 51 secured to the base member 32 senses the edge portion 44 when the support member 42 is moved to an actuated position (solid line showing in FIG. 4).

As best shown in FIG. 4, rotatably secured to the edge portion 44 of the support member 42 by means of a pin 52 is the end of an armature member 54 of a solenoid member 56. The armature member 54 is urged in a direction away from the solenoid member 56 by a spring member 57 mounted between the armature member 54 and the base member 32. The solenoid member 56 is secured to a bracket member (not shown) mounted to the base member 32. Energizing of the solenoid member 56 will rotate the support member 42 from its home position clockwise about the shaft 46, as viewed in FIG. 4, thereby rotating the support member to the actuated position shown in solid lines in FIG. 4.

Also associated with the back guide member 34 is an elongated T-shaped clamping member 58 (FIGS. 2-4 inclusive) supported at its ends by the armature members 60 of a pair of solenoid members 62 mounted to a bracket (not shown) secured to the base member 32. The armature members 60 are mounted within appertures 64 located in the guide member 34. The ends of the armature members 60 are slotted to receive the ends of the clamping member 58 which are secured to the armature members 60 by means of pin members 66. As best shown in FIG. 2, the ends of the clamping number 58 are each recessed to accommodate a compression spring 68 mounted between the clamping member 58 and the back guide member 34 normally urging the clamping member 58 away from the guide number 34. Secured to the face of the clamping member 58 is a rubber pad 70 (FIG. 4) which enhances the gripping action of the clamping member 58. As will be explained more fully hereinafter, energizing of the solenoid members 62 results in the clamping member 58 moving from the position shown in phantom lines in FIG. 4 to a positioning engaging a check document 72, thereby holding the check document against the back guide member 34.

As best seen in FIG. 2, mounted on a rail member 74 is a carriage assembly 76 to which is mounted a magnetic read head 78. The rail member 74 is mounted on a pair of support members 80 secured to the base member 32 by means of screws 82 or the like. Located axially on the rail member 74 adjacent the support members 82 is a pair of compression springs 84 for cushioning the movement of the carriage assembly 76 as it approaches the end of its translational movement on the rail member 74. Secured to the carriage assembly 76 by any conventional means is a flexible draw cable 86 which is routed around a pair of guide wheels 88 and 90 each rotatably secured to the base member 32 by means of brackets 91. The cable 86 is also wrapped around a drive pulley 92 rotatably mounted on a support member 93 secured to the base member 32 by means of screws 94 or the like. The drive shaft 96 of the pulley 92 is connected to a power source such as a motor (not shown) for rotating the pulley 92, which in turn drives the cable 86 to move the carriage assembly a distance sufficient to allow the read head 78 to scan any document 72 inserted within the slot 26 (FIG. 1).

As best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, the carriage assembly 76 comprises a support frame member 98 which rotatably supports two pairs of roller members 100 and 102, each engaging the rail member 74 with the roller member 100 orientated in a vertical direction and the roller member 102 orientated in a horizontal direction. Engaging the rail member 74 opposite to the roller members 100 and 102 is a pair of spring urged roller members 104 and 106. Each of the roller members 104 and 106 is rotatably mounted on a support arm member 108 which is rotatably secured to the frame member 98 and urged by a torsion spring (not shown) to rotate its associated roller member into engaging with the rail member 74. It will be seen from this construction that the carriage assembly will move along the rail number 74 on the roller members 100-106 inclusive as a result of the rotation movement of the pulley 92.

As best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, secured to the top of the support frame 98 of the carriage assembly 76 by means of a bolt member 110 is a support bracket 112 on which is mounted, by any conventional means, a sensor device 114 similar in construction to the sensor member 50 (FIG. 4) and which device 114 comprises a LED-photoelectric cell arrangement for sensing a check document 72 (FIG. 4) when positioned on the support member 42 in a manner that will be described more fully hereinafter. Associated with the sensor device 114 is a reflecting tape 116 (FIGS. 3 and 4) which includes a tapered portion 117, the tape 116 extending lengthwise along the front surface 118 of the back guide member 34. The tape 116 will reflect the light emitted from the LED portion of the sensor device 114 back at the photoelectric cell portion of the device 114 in a manner that is well known in the art. As will be described more fully hereinafter, the tapered portion 117 of the tape 116 allows the sensor device 114 to produce a signal for locating the position of the carriage assembly 76 with respect to an inserted document 72.

The operation of the reader apparatus will now be explained with respect to the control circuit disclosed in FIG. 5 of the drawing. Included in the control circuit is a controller 120 which may take the form of a microprocessor such as the Intel 8080 which is commercially available from the Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, California. The controller 120 receives control pulses from the document load sensor (Block 122) which in this example comprises the sensor device 50 (FIG. 4). The sensor device 50 senses the initial rotational movement of the document support member 42 by the operator in positioning the check document 72 on the support member. The controller 120 also receives control signals from a position sensor (Block 124) which comprises the sensor device 51 (FIG. 4) when the device senses the final actuated position of the support member 42. The controller 120 further receives signals from a sequence control unit (Block 126) which signals the start of a power-up condition of the reader mechanism. In response to receiving the control pulse from the document load sensor (Block 122), the controller 120 will first output an enabling pulse to the solenoids 62 controlling the operation of the clamping member 58 (Block 128) and then is the solenoid 56 which controls the rotation of the support member 42. In response to receiving control signals pulses from the sensor device 51, the controller 120 will transmit enabling signal to the magnetic head 78 (FIG. 4) enabling the magnetic head to magnetize the magnetic characters of the document which are to be read (Block 130) prior to the reading of the characters on the check document.

Associated with the controller 120 is a motor control selector 132 which may comprise a multiplexer which, in response to input signals, controls the operation of a DC motor (Block 134) which drives the pulley 92 (FIG. 2). During a power-up condition, a signal will be generated from a slow speed drive section (Block 136) enabling the selector 132 to output a control signal to a direction reverser (Block 138) for controlling the directional rotation of the motor to move the carriage assembly 76 in a direction to a start position. The direction control signal outputted by the direction reverser (Block 138) is transmitted to a power amplifier (Block 140) and then to the motor (Block 134) as part of a motor speed control loop. Completing the loop is an optical shaft encoder (Block 142) whose output is connected to a frequency to voltage converter (Block 144) for controlling the speed of the DC motor (Block 134) in a manner that is well known in the art. The loop accelerates the movement of the carriage assembly 76 to a constant speed and maintains such speed during operation of the magnetic head 78.

As previously described, the sensor device 114 (FIG. 3) located on the carriage assembly 76 cooperates with the reflective strip 116 for locating the position of the carriage assembly 76 and the document 72. During a power-up condition the carriage assembly 76 is moved to the left as viewed in FIG. 3 until the sensor device 114 senses the end of the reflective strip 116 at the far left of the back guide member 34. Sensing of the end of the reflective strip 116 results in a signal being transmitted from the sensor device 114 (Block 146) to a sensor amplifier (Block 148). The output of the sensor amplifier is transmitted to a light/dark threshold detector (Block 150) for detecting the output level of the sensor device 114. The detector 150 will output appropriate control signals to the controller 120 enabling the controller to output control signals over select lines 152, 154 to the motor control selector 132 for controlling the operation of the DC motor 134. The selector 132 also receives an amplified signal from the position amplifier (Block 156), which signal is received from the sensor amplifier (Block 148). The motor control selector 132, in response to receiving these control signals, enables the DC motor to move the carriage assembly 76 to a position controlled by the sensor device 114 upon sensing the tapered portion 117 (FIG. 3) of the reflective stripe 116. On the placing of a document 72 on the support member 42 (FIG. 4) by the operator, the operator will rotate the support member 42 in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 4 by exerting pressure on the document 72 until the support member 42 has rotated a sufficient distance to enable the sensor device 50 to output a signal to the controller 120 as described previously, thereby enabling the controller to output an enabling pulse to the solenoids 56 and 62 (FIG. 4). Energizing of the solenoids 62 results in the armature members 60 being drawn within the solenoids and thereby moving the clamping member 58 into engaging with the check document 72 against the action of the springs 68. Energizing of the solenoid 56 results in the armature member 54 rotating the support member 42 in a further clockwise direction about the shaft 62 to the position shown in solid lines in FIG. 4, thereby removing the stop surface portion 43 (FIG. 2) of the support member 42 from the path of movement of the magnetic head 78.

Upon the sensor device 51 (FIG. 4) sensing that the support member 42 has been rotated out of the path of the carriage assembly 76, the controller 120 will enable the magnetic head and output appropriate signals to the selector 132 to drive the carriage assembly 76 past the document 72, thereby allowing the magnetic head to magnetize the characters on the document which are to be read. As the sensor device 114 senses the end of the document 72, the signal generated by the sensor device 114 and transmitted to the controller 120 enables the controller to output a signal over line 158 (FIG. 5) to the direction reverser (Block 138) enabling the motor to reverse the direction of travel of the carriage assembly 76. Upon the sensor device 114 sensing the presence of the document 72 during this reverse movement of the carriage assembly, the controller 120 will output over line 160 (FIG. 5) a control signal to the recognition logic (Block 162) enabling the recognition logic to read the data being read by the magnetic head 78 (Block 164) and transmitted to the recognition logic over line 166. Once the sensor device 114 senses the end of the document 72, the signal generated by the sensor device 114 and transmitted to the controller 120 through the detector (Block 150) will allow the controller to generate the appropriate control signals over lines 152, 154 to the motor control selector 132 enabling the selector to receive system idle signals (Block 168) thereby enabling the motor (Block 134) to slow the carriage assembly 76 in preparation for stopping. The controller 120 will then output a control signal over line 158 to the direction reverser (Block 138) which enables the motor (Block 134) to reverse the direction of movement of the carriage assembly 76. The carriage assembly 76 is then moved to a position controlled by the sensor device 114 upon sensing the tapered portion 117 of the (FIG. 3) of the reflective strip 116 preparatory to the next reading operation. At this time the controller 120 will disable the energizing of the solenoids 56 and 62 enabling the springs 57 and 68 to return the support member 42 and the clamping member 58 to their home positions, thereby allowing the document 72 to be withdrawn from the support member 42.

While the principles of the invention have now been made clear in an illustrated embodiment, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many modifications of structure, arrangements, elements and components can be made which are particularly adapted for specific environments without departing from those principles. As an example, the reflective strip 116 may be replaced by a polished surface extending along the back guide member 34. It is obvious that the magnetic head 78 could be of a read/write construction allowing both a read or write operation to occur. The appended claims are therefore intended to cover and embrace any such modifications within the limits only of the true spirit and scope of the invention.