Access-control equipment and item-dispensing systems including such equipment

Claim 2

Access-control equipment for selectively enabling access to a facility in response to a request made by a person presenting an information-bearing token to said equipment, comprising first means for receiving within the equipment the information-bearing token presented thereto, second means for providing from the received token a discrete record of information borne thereby, said second means comprising elements of a data-recording medium, and a recorder for recording said information borne by the received token on one of said elements, third means for reading from said one element part at least of the information recorded thereon by said recorder, and fourth means operable in dependence upon the information read from said record to enable said person access to said facility whereby access to said facility is conditional upon the making of a readable record of said token information, and wherein said second means includes means operative to present successive ones of said elements to said recorder in respect of successive requests for access so that the record-retaining elements provide a logging of the token-borne data in respect of those individual requests for access.

Claim 3

Access-control equipment according to claim 1 wherein said record is a printed record.

Claim 4

Access-control equipment according to claim 1 wherein said recorder is means to provide said record as a transfer by impression from embossings of the received token.

Claim 5

Access-control equipment according to claim 3 wherein said third means is a photoelectric reader arrangement for deriving electric signals in accordance with the said impression-record, and said fourth means includes means for supplying an electric control signal selectively in dependence upon the signals derived by said photoelectric reader arrangement, and means responsive to the supply of said control signal to enable access to said facility.

Claim 6

Access-control equipment according to claim 1 wherein said recorder includes inking means to provide said record as an inked impression of embossings borne by the received token.

Claim 7

Access-control equipment according to claim 5 including means for storing in bulk record material capable of receiving and retaining inked impressions, and feed means responsive to each occasion on which said first means receives an information-bearing token for feeding a discrete element of the stored record material through said second means to receive the said inked impression of the received token, said feed means feeding successive elements of the stored record material through said second means on successive occasions of token-reception so as to provide discrete records in respect of those occasions.

Claim 8

Access-control equipment according to claim 6 wherein said record material is paper tape.

Claim 9

Access-control equipment according to claim 6 wherein said second meAns includes means for feeding an inked ribbon to pass between the received token and the element of record material fed to said second means, and means for pressing the token and element one upon the other with the inked ribbon therebetween, to effect the said inked impression.

Claim 10

Access-control equipment according to claim 1 in combination with an item-dispenser for dispensing items in response to each operation of said fourth means.

Claim 11

An item-dispensing system for dispensing items in response only to the concurrence of a number of conditions one of which is the prior making of a readable logging record of information appearing on an information-bearing token, comprising item-dispensing means that is selectively operable to dispense from a reserve of items at least one such item upon each operation of the item-dispensing means, entry means for receiving an information-bearing token presented to the system as part of a request for operation of said item-dispensing means, recording means for providing from the received token a record of information borne thereby, said recording means comprising elements of a data-recording medium, and a recorder for recording said information on one of said elements to thereby log said information, record-reading means, operative in response to the making of a readable log-record of said information, for reading from said one element at least part of the recorded information, manually operable means for entering a number into the system as a further part of said request, the particular number entered being dependent upon manual selection, and comparison means for comparing a number dependent upon the information read from said one element with the number entered into the system, said comparison means including means for operating said item-dispensing means to dispense at least one of said items as aforesaid in dependence upon whether a predetermined correspondence exists between the compared numbers, said record-reading means including means to present successive ones of said elements to said recorder in respect of successive requests for operation of said item-dispensing means so that the record-retaining elements provide account logging of information in respect of the successive requests.

Claim 12

An item-dispensing system for dispensing items in response only to the concurrence of a number of conditions one of which is the prior making of a readable logging record of information appearing on an information-bearing token, comprising item-dispensing means that is selectively operable to dispense from a reserve of items at least one such item upon each operation of the item-dispensing means, entry means for receiving an information-bearing token presented to the system as part of a request for operation of said item-dispensing means, recording means for providing from the received token a record of information borne thereby, said recording means comprising elements of a data-recording medium, and a recorder for recording said information on one of said elements to thereby log said information, record-reading means, operative in response to the making of a readable log-record of said information, for reading from said one element at least part of the recorded information, manually operable means for entering a number into the system as a further part of said request, the particular number entered being dependent upon manual selection, and comparison means for comparing a number dependent upon the information read from said one element with the number entered into the system, said comparison means including means for operating said item-dispensing means to dispense at least one of said items as aforesaid in dependence upon whether a predetermined correspondence exists between the compared numbers, said record-reading means including means to present successive ones of said elements to said recorder in respect of successive requests for operation of said item-dispensing means so that the record-retaining elements provide account logging of information in respect of the successive requests.

Claim 13

An item-dispensing system according to claim 10 wherein said recorder is means to provide a printed record of information borne by the received token.

Claim 14

An item-dispensing system according to claim 10 wherein said recorder is means to provide said record as a transfer to said one element by impression from embossings of the received token.

Claim 15

An item-dispensing system comprising two spaced stations and a data link interconnecting them, a first of the two stations including means for receiving an information-bearing token presented to the system, recording means for providing from the received token a record of information borne thereby, record-reading means for reading from said record a part at least of the recorded information, means for entering a number into the system, means for transmitting to said second station via said data link the entered number and information read from said record, and item-dispensing means that is selectively operable to dispense from a reserve of items at least one such item upon each operation of the item-dispensing means, and said second station including comparison means responsive to the said number and information transmitted from the first station via the data link to detect whether there is a predetermined correspondence between them, encyphering means for executing a predetermined program to derive a plural-digit number in response to the transmission of said information via the data link, and means for transmitting said plural-digit number to said first station via said data link, so as to provide a signal signifying approval of operation of the item-dispensing means, only in the event that said comparison means detects said predetermined correspondence, and wherein said first statioN also includes encyphering means for executing said predetermined program to derive separately the same plural-digit number as the encyphering means at said second station, and means for enabling operation of the item-dispensing means only in the event of equality between this number and the number transmitted from the second station to signify approval of such operation.

Claim 16

An item-dispensing system comprising two spaced stations and a data link interconnecting them, a first of the two stations including means for receiving an information-bearing token presented to the system, recording means for providing from the received token a record of information borne thereby, record-reading means for reading from said record a part at least of the recorded information, means for entering a number into the system, means for transmitting to said second station via said data link the entered number and information read from said record, and item-dispensing means that is selectively operable to dispense from a reserve of items at least one such item upon each operation of the item-dispensing means, and said second station including comparison means responsive to the said number and information transmitted from the first station via the data link to detect whether there is a predetermined correspondence between them, encyphering means for executing a predetermined program to derive a plural-digit number in response to the transmission of said information via the data link, and means for transmitting said plural-digit number to said first station via said data link, so as to provide a signal signifying approval of operation of the item-dispensing means, only in the event that said comparison means detects said predetermined correspondence, and wherein said first statioN also includes encyphering means for executing said predetermined program to derive separately the same plural-digit number as the encyphering means at said second station, and means for enabling operation of the item-dispensing means only in the event of equality between this number and the number transmitted from the second station to signify approval of such operation.

Claim 17

In equipment for use in control of a credit operation and which comprises card-receiving means to receive an information-bearing credit card, recording means to provide a hard-copy record of information borne by the credit card for accounting purposes, reading means to provide a read out of at least part of said card-borne information, and credit authorization means operable to signify authorization of said credit operation in dependence upon the card-borne information read out by said reading means; the improvement wherein said reading means comprises means for providing said read out from the hard-copy record provided by said recording means whereby authorization of said credit operation is conditional upon the making of a readable hard-copy account record of said card-borne information.

Claim 18

In equipment for use in control of a credit operation and which comprises card-receiving means to receive an information-bearing credit card, recording means to provide a hard-copy record of information borne by the credit card for accounting purposes, reading means to provide a read out of at least part of said card-borne information, and credit authorization means operable to signify authorization of said credit operation in dependence upon the card-borne information read out by said reading means; the improvement wherein said reading means comprises means for providing said read out from the hard-copy record provided by said recording means whereby authorization of said credit operation is conditional upon the making of a readable hard-copy account record of said card-borne information.