Data reader

Abstract

To provide a data reader capable of reading data from an IC chip incorporated in a booklet by easy operation.SOLUTION: A data reader 1 includes: a base section 20 having a guide surface 21 for guiding an IC passport 90 while being used for reading data in a chip stored in an IC chip 96 incorporated in the IC passport 90; a head section 22 for forming an insertion slot 23 into which the edge of the opened IC passport 90 can be inserted; a camera 30 capable of photographing the edge of the IC passport 90 inserted into the insertion slot 23; a stopper 24 for regulating the movement of the IC passport 90 in a -z direction; a communication section 32 capable of communicating with the IC chip 96; and a control section 34. The communication section 32 is disposed in a position close to a guide surface 32 between the stopper 24 and the entrance of the insertion slot 23. The control section 34 acquires machine-readable data 94 from the edge of the IC passport 90, and acquires data in a chip from the IC chip 96 via the communication section 32 by using it.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a data reading device. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, passports equipped with IC chips on which biometric information and other data is electromagnetically recorded (ePassports) have been adopted worldwide in order to prevent unauthorized use of passports. Standards for such ePassports have been established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) (see Non-Patent Document 1).

[0003] However, the ICAO standard specifies the minimum requirements that an ePassport must meet, and each country can freely specify the parts that are not specified in the ICAO standard. For example, there is no specific specification as to which page in the passport the photo page or the page with the IC chip should be, and depending on the country, the page with the IC chip may be the cover page, the back cover page, or a page between the two.

[0004] Therefore, when reading the data stored in the IC chip of such an ePassport with a data reader, the user must adjust the position and direction of the ePassport according to the specifications of the ePassports of over 100 countries, making the process of reading data from the ePassport extremely cumbersome. For this reason, there is a demand for a data reader that can read data from an ePassport with simple operations. This demand is not limited to data readers that read data from ePassports, but also applies to all data readers that read data from booklets with built-in IC chips. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Non-Patent Document 1] "Machine Readable Travel Documents", ICAO Doc 9303, 8th edition, 2021 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] The present invention has been made in consideration of the problems with the conventional technology, and has an object to provide a data reading device that can read data from an IC chip embedded in a booklet with a simple operation. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data reading device capable of reading data from an IC chip built into a booklet with a simple operation. The data reading device is used to read data in the chip stored in the IC chip built into the booklet. The data reading device includes a base portion having a guide surface for guiding the booklet, a head portion having an insertion slot into which an edge of an open booklet can be inserted in a first direction along the guide surface, a camera capable of photographing the edge of the booklet inserted into the insertion slot of the head portion, a stopper for restricting movement of the booklet in a second direction opposite to the first direction, a communication unit capable of communicating with the IC chip of the booklet, and a control unit. The communication unit is disposed at a position close to the guide surface between the stopper and an entrance of the insertion slot. The control unit is configured to obtain booklet data from the edge of the booklet photographed by the camera, and obtain the data in the chip from the IC chip of the booklet via the communication unit using the booklet data. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a data reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating components of the data reading device shown in FIG. [Diagram 3]FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a schematic diagram of a passport as a booklet used in one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a typical usage state of the data reader shown in FIG. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a typical usage state of the data reader shown in FIG. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating components of a data reading device according to another embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] Hereinafter, an embodiment of a data reading device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to Figs. 1 to 5. In Figs. 1 to 5, identical or corresponding components are denoted with the same reference numerals, and duplicated explanations will be omitted. In addition, in Figs. 1 to 5, the scale and dimensions of each component may be exaggerated, or some components may be omitted. In the following description, unless otherwise specified, terms such as "first" and "second" are used only to distinguish components from each other, and do not represent a specific order or sequence.

[0010] Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a data reading device 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a diagram showing components of the data reading device 1. In this embodiment, an example of the data reading device 1 that reads data stored in an IC chip built into a passport will be described, but the data reading device according to the present invention can be used not only to read data from an IC passport, but also to read data from various booklets with built-in IC chips.

[0011] 1 and 2, the data reader 1 includes a base unit 10 and a housing 12 attached to the base unit 10. The housing 12 includes a base unit 20 having a guide surface 21 for guiding an IC passport as described below, a head unit 22 protruding in the +Y direction from the end of the base unit 20 on the +Z direction side, and a stopper 24 protruding in the +Y direction from the end of the base unit 20 on the -Z direction side.

[0012] The head unit 22 has a light emitting unit (LED) 25 that indicates the data reading state. In addition, the head unit 22 has an insertion slot 23 formed along the guide surface 21 at the boundary with the base unit 20. This insertion slot 23 extends in an elongated manner in the X direction, and an edge of an IC passport 90 with a specific page opened, which will be described later, can be inserted into this insertion slot 23 in the +Z direction (first direction) along the guide surface 21. In addition, the head unit 22 has a sensor (not shown), such as an optical sensor, that detects that an object has been inserted into the insertion slot 23. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the data reading device 1 has a camera 30, a mirror 31, a communication unit 32, an output unit 33, a light emitting unit 35, and a control unit 34 inside the housing 12. Details of these components will be described later.

[0013] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a schematic diagram of an example of an ePassport 90. FIG. 3 shows a page 91 (hereinafter referred to as "holder information page") on which information on the holder of the ePassport 90 is written, in an open state. As shown in FIG. 3, the holder information page 91 contains the holder's face photo 92, as well as the holder's surname, first name, date of birth, nationality, sex, domicile of origin, signature, type of passport, issuing country, passport number, date of issue, expiration date, and issuing authority information 93. In addition, in order to comply with the above-mentioned ICAO standard, a machine-readable zone (MRZ) 95 in which machine-readable data 94 is displayed is provided on the edge of the holder information page 91. As the machine-readable data 94, the type of passport, issuing country code, name, etc. are written on the first line, and the passport number, nationality, date of birth, sex, expiration date, etc. are written on the second line.

[0014] The IC passport 90 also has an IC chip 96 built in, which stores the face photo data of the holder of the IC passport 90 as well as the passport number and other information data written on the holder information page 91. The page on which the IC chip 96 is built varies depending on the country. It may be built in the front or back cover page, or it may be built in the middle page of the booklet as in the case of Japanese IC passports. The IC passport 90 also has an antenna (not shown) built in to enable communication between an external device and the IC chip 96. The data stored in the IC chip 96 can be read using an authentication key generated using the machine-readable data 94 displayed on the MRZ 95. For example, an IC chip conforming to the ISO14443 Type B standard may be used as the IC chip 96, but is not limited thereto.

[0015] Returning to FIG. 2, the camera 30 photographs the edge of the IC passport 90 inserted into the insertion slot 23 of the head unit 22. The mirror 31 reflects an image of the edge of the IC passport 90 inserted into the insertion slot 23 and forms an image on the camera 30. The stopper 24 restricts the movement of the IC passport 90 in the -Z direction (second direction). The communication unit 32 is disposed in a position close to the guide surface 21 between the stopper 24 and the entrance of the insertion slot 23. The communication unit 32 communicates with the IC chip 96 built into the IC passport 90, and is constituted by, for example, a communication device using radio frequency identification (RFID). The light emitting unit 35 illuminates the inside of the insertion slot 23, and is constituted by, for example, an LED. The control unit 34 is connected to various components of the data reading device 1 and controls these components, and includes a central processing unit (CPU) and a storage device that stores programs and the like that, when executed by the CPU, realize the functions described in detail below and other functions (for example, a function to obtain the current date and time). The output unit 33 outputs the data processed and acquired by the control unit 34 to an external device.

[0016] When using the data reader 1, the user opens the holder information page 91 of the ePassport 90 and inserts the edge of the ePassport 90 into the insertion slot 23 of the head unit 22 so that the MRZ 95 located on the edge faces the +Y direction, as shown in Fig. 4. When the edge of the ePassport 90 is inserted into the insertion slot 23, a sensor in the head unit 22 detects this insertion, and upon receiving a signal from the sensor, the control unit 34 instructs the light-emitting unit 35 to turn on and instructs the camera 30 to photograph the edge of the ePassport 90. As a result, the edge of the ePassport 90 inserted into the insertion slot 23 is photographed by the camera 30 via the mirror 31.

[0017] The image captured by the camera 30 is sent to the control unit 34, and the control unit 34 uses, for example, optical character recognition (OCR) technology to obtain the characters written on the MRZ 95 of the ePassport 90, i.e., machine-readable data 94 (booklet data), from the image captured by the camera 30. The control unit 34 then generates an authentication key required to access the IC chip 96 of the ePassport 90 from the obtained machine-readable data 94. The control unit 34 checks the validity of the generated authentication key and informs the user of the validity of the authentication key, for example, by emitting light from the light-emitting unit 25 of the head unit 22.

[0018] If the generated authentication key is valid, the control unit 34 instructs the communication unit 32 to start sending a request command, and also instructs it to receive a response signal from the IC chip 96 of the IC passport 90. This causes the communication unit 32 to enter a standby state.

[0019] When the user confirms that the light-emitting unit 25 is lit, indicating that the authentication key is valid, he or she moves the IC passport 90 in the -Z direction to bring the edge of the IC passport 90 out of the insertion slot 23 and closes the open holder information page 91, as shown in Fig. 5. Next, the user moves the closed IC passport 90 in the -Z direction along the guide surface 21 until its back portion 97 hits the stopper 24. When the sensor in the head unit 22 no longer detects the presence of the IC passport 90 in the insertion slot 23, the control unit 34 instructs the light-emitting unit 35 to turn off.

[0020] As described above, the page in which the IC chip 96 is embedded varies from country to country, but when the back 97 of the closed IC passport 90 is in contact with the stopper 24, the IC chip 96 is located within the communication range of the communication unit 32 of the data reading device 1, regardless of which page of the IC passport 90 the IC chip 96 is embedded in. Therefore, as described above, when the closed IC passport 90 is moved in the -Z direction until the back 97 in contacts with the stopper 24, the IC chip 96 comes into the communication range of the communication unit 32.

[0021] When the IC chip 96 enters a communication range with the communication unit 32, power is supplied to the IC chip 96 by the magnetic field from the communication unit 32, and the IC chip 96 enters a state in which it can communicate with the outside. At this time, the communication unit 32 of the data reader 1 transmits a request command as described above, so the IC chip 96 of the IC passport 90 receives the request command from the communication unit 32 and transmits a response signal to the communication unit 32.

[0022] The fact that the communication unit 32 receives a response signal from the IC chip 96 means that the IC chip 96 is present within the communication range of the communication unit 32. Therefore, when the communication unit 32 receives a response signal from the IC chip 96, it transmits to the IC chip 96 a command to acquire data stored in the IC chip 96 (hereinafter referred to as "chip data"). At this time, the communication unit 32 performs authentication in the IC chip 96 using the generated authentication key. When the IC chip 96 authenticates that the authentication key is valid, the IC chip 96 transmits the requested chip data to the communication unit 32. The communication unit 32 receives the chip data from the IC chip 96 and transmits it to the control unit 34. In this manner, the control unit 34 can acquire the chip data stored in the IC chip 96.

[0023] As described above, the data in the chip that the control unit 34 can acquire includes the face photo data, surname, first name, date of birth, nationality, sex, type of e-passport 90, issuing country, passport number, expiration date, etc. of the holder of the e-passport 90. The control unit 34 can use these data to perform various processes (e.g., age authentication). Alternatively, the control unit 34 can directly output these data to an external device via the output unit 33.

[0024] According to the data reading device 1 of this embodiment, after opening the holder information page of the e-passport 90 and photographing the machine-readable data 94 (booklet data) with the camera 30, the e-passport 90 is closed and moved along the guide surface 21 until its back 97 hits the stopper 24, and the IC chip 96 of the e-passport 90 will be located within the communication range of the communication unit 32 of the data reading device 1, regardless of which page of the e-passport 90 the IC chip 96 is embedded in. Therefore, it is possible to read the data stored in the IC chip 96 of the e-passport 90 with a simple operation, without having to worry about differences in specifications between countries.

[0025] Here, in order to ensure more reliable communication between the communication unit 32 of the data reading device 1 and the IC chip 96 of the IC passport 90, as shown in FIG. 5, it is preferable that the distance D between the stopper 24 and the entrance of the insertion slot 23 is longer than the width W of the IC passport 90 along a direction perpendicular to the extension direction (X direction) of the back 97 of the IC passport 90 when the IC passport 90 is closed.

[0026] Here, a case where age authentication is performed will be described as an example in which the control unit 34 performs processing using the above-mentioned data in the chip. In this case, the expiration date of the validity period of the IC passport 90 in the data in the chip is compared with the current date and time to determine whether the expiration date of the validity period of the IC passport 90 is in the future. The current date and time can be acquired by a function built into the control unit 34. If the expiration date is in the future, the control unit 34 calculates the age of the holder from the difference between the holder's date of birth in the data in the chip or the machine-readable data 94 and the current date and time. If the calculated age is a predetermined age (e.g., 20 years old) or more, the control unit 34 outputs a signal indicating that the age authentication has been successful from the output unit 33 to an external device, and if the calculated age is less than the predetermined age, the control unit 34 outputs a signal indicating that the age authentication has failed from the output unit to the external device. Instead of outputting to the external device in this way, the light emitting unit 25 of the head unit 22 may be made to emit light.

[0027] Such a data reading device 1 having an age authentication function may be attached to a vending machine that sells, for example, cigarettes or alcoholic beverages. The output unit 33 of the data reading device 1 may be connected to a control unit of the vending machine to determine whether or not the purchaser is over the purchase age. That is, when a purchaser purchases a product, the data reading device 1 may be configured to read the purchaser's IC passport according to the above-mentioned procedure, and the product may be sold only when a signal indicating that age authentication has been successful is sent from the control unit 34 to the control unit of the vending machine.

[0028] In the above explanation, age authentication is performed by the data reading device 1, but the present invention is not limited to this, and various processes can be performed using the data stored in the chip 96 of the IC passport 90. Furthermore, the external device connected to the data reading device 1 is not limited to the vending machine, and for example, a personal computer may be connected to the data reading device 1, and the data stored in the chip 96 may be processed by the personal computer.

[0029] In addition, in the above example, the characters written in the MRZ 95 of the IC passport 90 are considered to be machine-readable data 94, but such machine-readable data 94 does not necessarily have to be characters; for example, a QR code (registered trademark) or a barcode may be displayed in the MRZ 95 as machine-readable data 94.

[0030] In the above example, when the edge of the IC passport 90 is inserted into the insertion slot 23, the camera 30 automatically starts taking pictures. However, it is also possible to provide a button on the head unit 22 to instruct the camera to start taking pictures, and to have the control unit 34 turn on the light-emitting unit 35 and start taking pictures with the camera 30 when the user presses this button.

[0031] Furthermore, if the IC chip 96 of the ePassport 90 is built into the holder information page 91 side, communication with the IC chip 96 is possible when photographing the edge of the ePassport 90 as shown in Fig. 4, so there is no need to close the ePassport 90 as shown in Fig. 5. Therefore, the data stored in the IC chip 96 can be obtained even without the stopper 24. From this perspective, for example, as in the data reader 101 shown in Fig. 6, a stopper 124 may be detachably attached to the base part 20 so that the stopper 124 can be removed as necessary.

[0032] As described above, the data reading device according to the present invention can adopt the following configuration.

[0033] [Configuration 1] A data reading device that reads data stored in an IC chip built into a booklet, a base portion having a guide surface for guiding the booklet; a head portion having an insertion slot formed therein into which an edge of an open booklet can be inserted in a first direction along the guide surface; a camera capable of photographing the edge of the booklet inserted into the insertion slot of the head portion; a stopper that restricts movement of the booklet in a second direction opposite to the first direction; a communication unit capable of communicating with the IC chip of the booklet, the communication unit being disposed at a position adjacent to the guide surface between the stopper and an entrance of the insertion slot; a control unit configured to acquire booklet data from the edge of the booklet photographed by the camera, and to acquire the chip data from the IC chip of the booklet via the communication unit using the booklet data; A data reading device comprising:

[0034] [Configuration 2] 2. The data reading device of claim 1, wherein the distance between the stopper and the entrance of the insertion slot is greater than the width of the booklet along a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the spine of the booklet extends when the booklet is closed.

[0035] [Configuration 3] machine-readable data usable for generating an authentication key for accessing data stored in the IC chip is displayed on the edge of the booklet; the control unit is configured to acquire the machine-readable data from the edge photographed by the camera as the booklet data, and acquire the chip data from the IC chip of the booklet via the communication unit using the authentication key generated from the machine-readable data. 3. A data reading device according to configuration 1 or 2.

[0036] [Configuration 4] 4. The data reading device according to any one of configurations 1 to 3, further comprising a mirror that reflects an image of the edge of the booklet inserted into the insertion slot of the head portion and forms the image on the camera.

[0037] [Configuration 5] 5. The data reading device according to any one of configurations 1 to 4, further comprising a light emitting unit that illuminates the inside of the insertion slot of the head portion.

[0038] [Configuration 6] The data reading device according to any one of configurations 1 to 5, wherein the stopper is configured to be removable from the base portion.

[0039] [Configuration 7] 6. A data reading device according to any one of configurations 1 to 5, wherein the booklet is a passport.

[0040] Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and may be embodied in various different forms within the scope of the technical concept thereof. [Explanation of symbols]

[0041] 1,101 Data Reader 10 Pedestal 12. Chassis 20 Base 21 Guide surface 22 Head section 23 Insertion Slot 24,124 Stopper 25 Light emitting part 30 Camera 31 Mirror 32 Communications Department 33 Output section 34 Control section 35 Light-emitting part 90 IC passport (booklet) 91 Owner Information Page 92 Photo 94 Machine-readable data (booklet data) 96 IC chip 97 Back

Claims

1. A data reading device that reads data stored in an IC chip built into a booklet, comprising: a base portion having a guide surface for guiding the booklet; a head portion having an insertion slot formed therein into which an edge of an open booklet can be inserted in a first direction along the guide surface; a camera capable of photographing the edge of the booklet inserted into the insertion slot of the head portion; a stopper that restricts movement of the booklet in a second direction opposite to the first direction; a communication unit capable of communicating with the IC chip of the booklet, the communication unit being disposed at a position adjacent to the guide surface between the stopper and an entrance of the insertion slot; a control unit configured to acquire booklet data from the edge of the booklet photographed by the camera, and to acquire the chip data from the IC chip of the booklet via the communication unit using the booklet data; A data reading device comprising:

2. 2. The data reading device according to claim 1, wherein the distance between the stopper and the entrance of the insertion slot is longer than a width of the booklet along a direction perpendicular to a direction in which the spine of the booklet extends when the booklet is closed.

3. machine-readable data usable for generating an authentication key for accessing data stored in the IC chip is displayed on the edge of the booklet; the control unit is configured to acquire the machine-readable data from the edge photographed by the camera as the booklet data, and acquire the chip data from the IC chip of the booklet via the communication unit using the authentication key generated from the machine-readable data.

2. The data reading device according to claim 1.

4. 2. The data reading device according to claim 1, further comprising a mirror that reflects an image of the edge of the booklet inserted into the insertion slot of the head portion and forms the image on the camera.

5. The data reader according to claim 1 , further comprising a light emitting section for illuminating an inside of the insertion slot of the head section.

6. The data reader according to claim 1 , wherein the stopper is configured to be removable from the base portion.

7. The data reading device according to claim 1 , wherein the booklet is a passport.

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