Control system

Claim 2

A card reader comprising means defining a card sensing area, a control sensor, a plurality of data sensors, first means adjacent said card sensing area responsive to the insertion of a card into said sensing area for energizing said control sensor, first circuitry including first latchable solid state switching means responsive to said control sensor for producing an output signal as a function of a first indicium on said card sensed by said control sensor and latching said first solid-state switching means, second circuitry responsive to the output signal of said first circuitry for energizing said data sensors, third circuitry including second latchable solid-state switching means for storing output signals from said data sensors as a function of second indicia on said card and latching said second solid state switching means, means for reading out information from said third circuitry, and fourth circuitry responsive to a data reset signal generated in response to the completion of the data readout operation for releasing said first and second solid-state switching means to permit readout of data on another card.

Claim 3

A card reader according to claim 1 wherein said control sensor includes two electromagnetic devices each said electromagnetic device including a primary winding and a secondary winding, the primary winding of One of said electromagnetic devices being disposed on one side of said sensing area and the secondary winding of said one electromagnetic device being disposed on the other side of said sensing area in the manner that said card may be interposed between said primary and secondary windings of said one electromagnetic device, said primary windings of said two electromagnetic devices being connected in parallel to said first means and said secondary windings of said two electromagnetic devices being connected in series opposition in the manner that when said first means energizes said electromagnetic device primary windings, said secondary windings produce outputs of approximately equal magnitude and of opposite polarity in the absence of an area of electrically conductive material disposed on said card interposed between said primary and secondary windings of said one electromagnetic device and said first circuitry does not produce said output signal and that when an area of electrically conductive material disposed on said card is interposed between said primary and secondary windings of said one electromagnetic device, said area absorbs the field radiated by said primary winding of said one electromagnetic device so that said secondary winding of said one electromagnetic device does not produce a detectable output signal and said secondary winding of said second electromagnetic device produces an output signal to energize said first circuitry and produce said output signal.

Claim 4

A card reader comprising means defining a card sensing area, a switch adjacent said card sensing area responsive to insertion of a card into said sensing area, first and second electromagnetic devices, each said electromagnetic device having a primary winding and a secondary winding, one of said devices being disposed in said card sensing area, a plurality of data sensors in said sensing area, first circuitry responsive to the operation of said switch in response to the insertion of a card in said sensing area for applying pulse signals of equal magnitude and polarity to said first and second electromagnetic device primary windings, said first and second electromagnetic device secondary windings being connected to produce an output signal as a function of an indicium on said card sensed by said one device, second circuitry responsive to the output signal of said secondary windings for applying a pulse signal to said data sensors, and readout circuitry responsive to the output signals of said data sensors as a function of indicia on said card for generating data signals for application to an output device.

Claim 5

A card reader comprising means defining a card sensing area, a switch adjacent said card sensing area responsive to insertion of a card into said sensing area, first and second electromagnetic devices, each said electromagnetic device having a primary winding and a secondary winding, one of said devices being disposed in said card sensing area, a plurality of data sensors in said sensing area, first circuitry responsive to the operation of said switch in response to the insertion of a card in said sensing area for applying pulse signals of equal magnitude and polarity to said first and second electromagnetic device primary windings, said first and second electromagnetic device secondary windings being connected to produce an output signal as a function of an indicium on said card sensed by said one device, second circuitry responsive to the output signal of said secondary windings for applying a pulse signal to said data sensors, and readout circuitry responsive to the output signals of said data sensors as a function of indicia on said card for generating data signals for application to an output device.

Claim 6

The card reader as claimed in claim 3 wherein said second circuitry and said readout circuitry each include a controlled rectifier switch which is latched in conducting condition in response to said output signals, and circuitry responsive to a signal from said output device for releasing said controlled rectifier switches from conducting condition.

Claim 7

A card reader arranged to sense an article having discrete areas of electrically conductive material thereon different from other areas of the article comprising means defining a card sensing area, a switch adjacent said card sensing area responsive to insertion of a card into said sensing area, an electromagnetic sensor including a primary winding disposed on one side of said sensing area and a secondary winding on the other side of said sensing area so that an article to be sensed may be interposed between said primary and secondary windings, a plurality of data sensors in said sensing area, first circuitry responsive to the operation of said switch in response to the insertion of a card into said sensing area for applying a pulse to the primary winding of said electromagnetic sensor to induce a detectable output in the secondary winding of said electromagnetic sensor in the absence of electrically conductive material carried by the article disposed in said sensing area interposed between said control sensor primarY and secondary windings, an area of electrically conductive material interposed between said electromagnetic sensor primary and secondary windings absorbing the field radiated by said primary winding so that said secondary winding does not produce a detectable output signal, second circuitry responsive to the output signal of said secondary winding for applying a pulse signal to said data sensors, said second circuitry including a solid-state switch arranged to apply a pulse signal to said data sensors only when said electromagnetic sensor secondary winding produces a detectable output, circuitry for latching said solid-state switch when said pulse signal is applied to said data sensors, readout circuitry responsive to the output signals of said data sensors as a function of indicia on said card for generating data signals for application to an output device, and circuitry responsive to a signal from said output device for releasing said solid-state switch.

Claim 8

A card reader arranged to sense an article having discrete areas of electrically conductive material thereon different from other areas of the article comprising means defining a card sensing area, a switch adjacent said card sensing area responsive to insertion of a card into said sensing area, an electromagnetic sensor including a primary winding disposed on one side of said sensing area and a secondary winding on the other side of said sensing area so that an article to be sensed may be interposed between said primary and secondary windings, a plurality of data sensors in said sensing area, first circuitry responsive to the operation of said switch in response to the insertion of a card into said sensing area for applying a pulse to the primary winding of said electromagnetic sensor to induce a detectable output in the secondary winding of said electromagnetic sensor in the absence of electrically conductive material carried by the article disposed in said sensing area interposed between said control sensor primarY and secondary windings, an area of electrically conductive material interposed between said electromagnetic sensor primary and secondary windings absorbing the field radiated by said primary winding so that said secondary winding does not produce a detectable output signal, second circuitry responsive to the output signal of said secondary winding for applying a pulse signal to said data sensors, said second circuitry including a solid-state switch arranged to apply a pulse signal to said data sensors only when said electromagnetic sensor secondary winding produces a detectable output, circuitry for latching said solid-state switch when said pulse signal is applied to said data sensors, readout circuitry responsive to the output signals of said data sensors as a function of indicia on said card for generating data signals for application to an output device, and circuitry responsive to a signal from said output device for releasing said solid-state switch.

Claim 9

The card reader as claimed in claim 5 wherein said data sensors are electromagnetic sensors disposed adjacent said sensing area, each of said electromagnetic data sensors including a primary winding disposed on one side of said sensing area and a secondary winding disposed on the other side of said sensing area in the manner that said article to be sensed may be interposed between said data sensor primary and secondary windings, said solid-state switch in said second circuitry being arranged to apply a pulse to said data sensor primary windings simultaneously to induce a detectable output in each said data sensor secondary windings in the absence of electrically conductive material carried by said article disposed in said sensing area interposed between each said data sensor primary winding and its corresponding data sensor secondary winding, each said area of electrically conductive material interposed between a data sensor primary winding and its corresponding secondary winding absorbing the field radiated by said data sensor primary winding so that the corresponding data sensor secondary winding does not produce a detectable output signal.

Claim 10

The card reader as claimed in claim 6 wherein said second circuitry and said readout circuitry each include a controlled rectifier switch corresponding to each sensor, said controlled rectifier switch in said second circuitry being arranged to be placed in conducting condition in response to a detectable output signal from said electromagnetic sensor secondary winding and each of said controlled rectifier switches in said readout circuitry being arranged to be latched in conducting condition in response to a detectable output signal from the corresponding data sensor secondary winding, said controlled rectifier switches being arranged to be released in response to a signal from said output device.