Large mark tolerance card reader

Claim 2

A card reading system comprising: a card printed with boundary indications that define markable areas arranged in spaced columns and rows, each markable area having a predetermined maximum thickness along the card path; means for moving said card along a predetermined card path; a plurality of spaced information sensors disposed along said card path, each sensor responsive to light substantially only within a viewed region of the card path which has a thickness along the length of the card path of less than one-half the thickness of each of said markable areas; a plurality of memories, each changeable from a first state to a second state in response to a corresponding sensor sensing a mark; means for reading out said memories at times when the card is positioned so that the regions viewed by the sensors are between columns of markable card areas; and resetting means for placing said memories in said first state after they are read out and before the next column of markable areas reaches the regions viewed by the sensors.

Claim 3

The card reader system described in claim 1 wherein: each markable area on the card has a width along the width of the card path which is greater than its thickness along the length of the card path, to encourage any pen marking to extend along the width of the card path; and each of said viewed regions has a thickness along the length of the card path which is less than one-fourth the thickness of each markable area.

Claim 4

A card reading system comprising: a card printed with boxes arranged in columns and rows, and containing a row of strobe encodings; means for moving the card along a predetermined card path; means for illuminating a portion of the card path; a column of light sensors spaced from the card path; a cylindrical lens extending along the width of the card path between the sensors and card path, said lens focusing light from only a corresponding viewed region of the card path onto each sensor, each viewed region having a thickness along the length of the card path less than one-fourth the thickness of each box along the card path, so that each sensor can generate a pulse in response to a thin mark: a plurality of memories eAch setable in response to a corresponding sensor sensing a mark and each being resetable; a plurality of gate means for passing a signal of a binary level dependent upon the state of a corresponding memory; and timing means for opening said gate means and then resetting the memories inbetween successive columns of boxes lying at the viewed regions.

Claim 5

A card reading system comprising: a card printed with boxes arranged in columns and rows, and containing a row of strobe encodings; means for moving the card along a predetermined card path; means for illuminating a portion of the card path; a column of light sensors spaced from the card path; a cylindrical lens extending along the width of the card path between the sensors and card path, said lens focusing light from only a corresponding viewed region of the card path onto each sensor, each viewed region having a thickness along the length of the card path less than one-fourth the thickness of each box along the card path, so that each sensor can generate a pulse in response to a thin mark: a plurality of memories eAch setable in response to a corresponding sensor sensing a mark and each being resetable; a plurality of gate means for passing a signal of a binary level dependent upon the state of a corresponding memory; and timing means for opening said gate means and then resetting the memories inbetween successive columns of boxes lying at the viewed regions.

Claim 6

Card and reader apparatus comprising: a card for moving along a card path, said card having markable encoding areas arranged in rows extending along the length of the card path and in columns extending along the width of the card path, and having strobe encodings spaced along a predetermined row position and at a constant column position with respect to said markable encoding areas; means for moving said card along a predetermined card path; a plurality of information sensor means spaced laterally from one another along the width of the card path for sensing the presence of encoding at predetermined locations at the card path; a plurality of memories, each operable from a reset state to a set state in response to a corresponding sensor sensing the presence of an encoding; timing means including a strobe sensor for sensing said strobe encodings of said card, for generating strobe signals in synchronism with the movement of said card past said information sensors; readout means coupled to said timing means for reading out the memories in synchronism with said strobe signals; and delay means for repeatedly resetting all of said memories, each resetting occurring at a time after said readout means reads out the memories.

Claim 7

Card and reader apparatus comprising: a card for moving along a card path, said card having markable encoding areas arranged in rows extending along the length of the card path and in columns extending along the width of the card path, and having strobe encodings spaced along a predetermined row position and at a constant column position with respect to said markable encoding areas; means for moving said card along a predetermined card path; a plurality of information sensor means spaced laterally from one another along the width of the card path for sensing the presence of encoding at predetermined locations at the card path; a plurality of memories, each operable from a reset state to a set state in response to a corresponding sensor sensing the presence of an encoding; timing means including a strobe sensor for sensing said strobe encodings of said card, for generating strobe signals in synchronism with the movement of said card past said information sensors; readout means coupled to said timing means for reading out the memories in synchronism with said strobe signals; and delay means for repeatedly resetting all of said memories, each resetting occurring at a time after said readout means reads out the memories.

Claim 8

The apparatus described in claim 4 wherein: said timing means includes card indicator means for generating a first signal indicating the presence of a card and a second signal indicating the absence of a card, said card indicator means including a capacitor, means for slowly charging the capacitor towards a first voltage between successive strobe signals and for rapidly discharging the capacitor at each strobe signal, and a logic circuit responsive to the voltage across the capacitor for generating said first signal until the capacitor is charged by the resistor to a predetermined level, said capacitor being large enough that it does not charge to said predetermined level until the end of a charging period which is greater than the normal time between successive strobe pulses.

Claim 9

A card reading system comprising: a card printed with boundary indications that define markable areas arranged in spaced columns and rows, each markable area having a predetermined maximum thickness along the card path, said card also having a row of strobe encodings; means for moving said card along a predetermined card path; a column of information sensors disposed along said card path, each sensor responsive to light substantially only within a viewed region of the card path which has a thickness along the card path of less than one-half the thickness of each of said markable areas; a plurality of memories, each changeable from a first state to a second state in response to a corresponding sensor sensing a mark; means for reading out said memories at times when the card is positioned so that the regions viewed by the sensors are between columns of markable card areas, including a strobe sensor positioned to sense said strobe encodings, said strobe sensor and strobe encodings being positioned so that the strobe encodings are sensed at times when the regions viewed by the information sensors are between columns of markable areas; and resetting means for placing said memories in said first state after they are read out and before the next column of markable areas reaches the regions viewed by the sensors.

Claim 10

A card reading system comprising: a card printed with boundary indications that define markable areas arranged in spaced columns and rows, each markable area having a predetermined maximum thickness along the card path, said card also having a row of strobe encodings; means for moving said card along a predetermined card path; a column of information sensors disposed along said card path, each sensor responsive to light substantially only within a viewed region of the card path which has a thickness along the card path of less than one-half the thickness of each of said markable areas; a plurality of memories, each changeable from a first state to a second state in response to a corresponding sensor sensing a mark; means for reading out said memories at times when the card is positioned so that the regions viewed by the sensors are between columns of markable card areas, including a strobe sensor positioned to sense said strobe encodings, said strobe sensor and strobe encodings being positioned so that the strobe encodings are sensed at times when the regions viewed by the information sensors are between columns of markable areas; and resetting means for placing said memories in said first state after they are read out and before the next column of markable areas reaches the regions viewed by the sensors.

Claim 11

A card reading system comprising: a card printed with boundary indications that define markable areas arranged in spaced columns and rows, each markable area having a predetermined maximum thickness along the card path; means for mOving said card along a predetermined card path; a column of information sensors disposed along said card path, each sensor responsive to light from one row of markable areas; a plurality of memories, each changeable from a first state to a second state in response to a corresponding sensor sensing a mark; means for reading out said memories at times when the card is positioned so that the regions viewed by the sensors are between columns of markable card areas; resetting means for placing said memories in said first state after they are read out and before the next column of markable areas reaches the regions viewed by the sensors; a cancel sensor positioned to sense marks at a predetermined row position; a cancel memory changeable from a first state to a second state in response to the sensing of a mark, and changeable to a first state by said resetting means; and means responsive to said cancel memory, for disabling said reading out means so it cannot read out said memories until after the next column of encoding areas has passed the viewed regions.

Claim 12

A card reading system comprising: a card printed with boundary indications that define markable areas arranged in spaced columns and rows, each markable area having a predetermined maximum thickness along the card path; means for mOving said card along a predetermined card path; a column of information sensors disposed along said card path, each sensor responsive to light from one row of markable areas; a plurality of memories, each changeable from a first state to a second state in response to a corresponding sensor sensing a mark; means for reading out said memories at times when the card is positioned so that the regions viewed by the sensors are between columns of markable card areas; resetting means for placing said memories in said first state after they are read out and before the next column of markable areas reaches the regions viewed by the sensors; a cancel sensor positioned to sense marks at a predetermined row position; a cancel memory changeable from a first state to a second state in response to the sensing of a mark, and changeable to a first state by said resetting means; and means responsive to said cancel memory, for disabling said reading out means so it cannot read out said memories until after the next column of encoding areas has passed the viewed regions.

Claim 13

A card reading system comprising: a card printed with boundary indications that define markable areas arranged in spaced columns and rows, said card also having a row of strobe encodings; means for moving said card along a predetermined card path; a column of information sensors disposed along said card path, each sensor responsive to light from a corresponding row of said markable areas; a plurality of memories, each changeable from a first state to a second state in response to a corresponding sensor sensing a mark; means for reading out said memories at times when the card is positioned so that the regions viewed by the sensors are between columns of markable card areas, including a strobe sensor positioned to sense said strobe encodings; resetting means for placing said memories in said first state after they are read out and before the next column of markable areas reaches the regions viewed by the sensors; and means responsive to the strobe sensor repetitively sensing strobe markings for generating a constant signal indicating the presence of a card.

Claim 14

A card reading system comprising: a card printed with boundary indications that define markable areas arranged in spaced columns and rows, said card also having a row of strobe encodings; means for moving said card along a predetermined card path; a column of information sensors disposed along said card path, each sensor responsive to light from a corresponding row of said markable areas; a plurality of memories, each changeable from a first state to a second state in response to a corresponding sensor sensing a mark; means for reading out said memories at times when the card is positioned so that the regions viewed by the sensors are between columns of markable card areas, including a strobe sensor positioned to sense said strobe encodings; resetting means for placing said memories in said first state after they are read out and before the next column of markable areas reaches the regions viewed by the sensors; and means responsive to the strobe sensor repetitively sensing strobe markings for generating a constant signal indicating the presence of a card.