Abstract: To counter illicit prevention of the invalidation of a smart card in a pay television network, for example when the period of validity for the card has expired, a verification of the card reader's ability to write to the card's memory is made. This verification consists in periodically sending a data item to be stored in the card. A counter on the card is reset by the writing voltage of the card's storage. In the event the writing voltage does not reach the counter, the counter's overflow output is connected to a read inhibition circuit which blocks functions of the card.

Abstract: An IC card adaptor having a wireless communication function and/or an optical communication function enabling a contact-type IC card to be used as an IC card of a non-contact type. The adaptor includes a power supply, a communication processing section, a transmission/reception section, and a device for establishing a contact-point coupling with an IC card developing at least a portion of a function to read data from the card and to write data therein through a contact-type contact point. An automatic roadway toll charging system employs such an IC card and IC card adaptor, as well as a card reader unit, a license plate identification unit, a comparison/collation unit, and a fee calculation unit to verify proper vehicle passage onto a roadway and calculate a required fee. A vehicle security system is disclosed which verifies proper vehicle passage into a security area.

Abstract: A system for changing the activation status of a selected data card such as a charge card by broadcasting an appropriate RF signal. An antenna embedded in the card detects and decodes the signal, and operates a transducer which changes the card appearance, alters magnetic stripe information, or alters the information contained within the card.

Abstract: A sports statistic recording system includes charts containing barcodes, a scanning device, and a personal computer. The computer is programmed to associate specific barcodes with specific players and game events. As events occur during a sporting match, the scanning device is used to scan the barcodes associated with the player and the event involved for rapid and simple data input. The scanned information is conveyed to the computer, which stores the information and compiles it for convenient reference.

Abstract: A hand-held data entry device having both portable and fixed point-of-sale modes. The device includes a housing having a chassis for carrying a bar code scanner and a microprocessor-based system that stores inventory data relating to goods, and further having a removable and reversible panel for permitting a display and keyboard to be remounted in an upside-down orientation relative to the direction of scanning. In this manner, a pistol-grip handle used by the operator in the portable mode may be also used as a mount for the device in the fixed point-of-sale mode. In the fixed point of sale mode, the device is mounted thereby to a transaction device, such as a cash register, such that the scanner's beam of light is directed approximately vertically downward to scan the universal product code of goods that are passed below the scanner.

Abstract: The invention proposes a portable case for an electronic smart card (C), comprising, on one of its main faces, electrical contact bands connected to an integrated circuit containing the card memory, of the type in which provision is made for a compartment which receives the card (C) and connection means (72) for connecting the contact bands to an exploitation electronic circuit providing at least a function of reading the data contained in the card, characterized in that it comprises a casing (10, 12, 14) equipped with a window (22) permitting the insertion of the card (C), an electrical connector (72) whose electrical contact elements (73) interact with the said contact bands when the card is in the position of exploitation of the data, a device for emitting and receiving (112, 114) data towards and from an information-processing station, and a switch (120) for detecting the placing of the card (C) in an exploitation position in the casing (10).

Abstract: A customer pass or card registered in the client's name is issued to each client who wishes to make use of the self-registration system. A check parameter, such as an integer, is assigned to the customer pass, and is either recorded in the customer pass or stored in the memory of a computer. After the client has registered the selected articles using a portable scanning device, the scanner is coupled to a readout station and at the same time the identity of the client and the associated check parameter are determined. With the aid of an automatic device, such as a random number generator, it is determined whether a spot check should take place. The store arrangement includes shelves 3, typical cash desks 4, and a check selection station 22 where a client wishing to make use of the self-registration system presents the customer pass. Station 22 determines whether the client must be spot checked.

Abstract: An environmentally tolerant personal identification, access control and monitoring system including a dual contact limb-worn identification (ID) code-producing unit and a multiple-physical contact arrayed ID code reader are described. Momentary physical contact between the unit's dual contacts, in any position and orientation, and the reader's arrayed multiple contacts is detected by sequentially energizing contact pairs of the array until a characteristic low-impedance is sensed and then the indicated contact pair is reverse-energized to read the ID code from the ID unit. Preferably, the contact array geometry is of closely spaced, nickel-plated, planar, hexagonally shaped conductors that are group-encoded and -energized to minimize the input/output port requirements of a microprocessor and associated drive/sense electronics that accomplish the scanning of the array and the reading of the ID unit.

Abstract: A single width bar code is appended with an end mark which includes a blank interval and a bar. The resulting bar code is bidirectional and inherently self clocking so as to be particularly useful in the identification of semiconductor wafers in very large scale integrated circuit manufacturing processes. The codes described are robust, reliable, and highly readable even in the face of relatively high variations in scanning speed. The codes are also desirably dense in terms of character representations per linear measurements, an important consideration in semiconductor manufacturing wherein space on chips and wafers is at a premium. Additionally, a preferred embodiment of the present invention exhibits a minimum number for the maximum number of spaces between adjacent bars in code symbol sequences.

Abstract: A bar code signal essentially forms a cross-section of a bar code pattern which through irradiation luminesces from the background of a carrier under fluorescent action. Detection is performed by testing the bar code signal F(t) within each area (ZG1, TIS) within which a bar may be expected, against a bar criterion (THR, MTHR) obtained by prediction, with the aid of a prediction table (TABLE 1), from a local background signal value (AGR) locally derived from the bar code signal F(t). In this method use is made of the fact that, first, between the bars the background of the carrier is invariably present, making a periodical reliable background approximation from the bar code signal value possible, and, second, there is a certain correlation between a background and the additive signal contribution as a response of the bars luminescing from that background under irradiation.

Abstract: A check card has an embedded semiconductor chip and contact surfaces for communication and power supply. The position of the contact surfaces relative to at least three reference points (B) on the outer edges of the card is precisely defined or standardized within certain tolerances. The check card is connected with a standard card of greater surface area via at least two easily severable bar areas (30, 32) distributed on the periphery of the check card and not located in the area of the reference points.

Abstract: A novel bar code and optical reader for scanning the same. The bar code consists of two parallel channels of marks and spaces representing bit sequences, a given bit in one sequence being associated with a bit in the other sequence, forming successive bit pairs. The data is encoded in the logical exclusive-or combination of the bit pairs. An alternating clock scheme is further used to encode the data, which limits the width of any mark or space to twice the minimum width. The optical reader includes two optical detectors connected to a microprocessor which records the time intervals between mark/space transitions in each channel. These time intervals are used to reconstruct the bit sequences in each channel; the bit sequences may then be correlated and the XOR operation performed, yielding the encoded data.

Abstract: A system provides for transmission of information between an article carrying information and an apparatus for processing the information, in which the article includes an arrangement for modulating the reflectance of at least one area of a liquid crystal device as a function of information to be transmitted to the processing apparatus. The system includes a reader having a station for receiving the article, and an optical arrangement at the station which is sensitive to the reflectance of the area of the liquid crystal device to form signals representative of information given out by the article. Also included is an arrangement for the transmission of these signals to the processing apparatus.

Abstract: A purchase monitoring device, to be used by a shopper in a self-service store having items with bar codes which identify the item and its price, the device including primarily a portable handset having a bar code scanner which enables pricing and identification data of a selected item to be displayed on an LED display of the handset. Through selective use of a price check button, a purchase button, and a return button, the price of the item may be checked, added to a running total of purchase items, or removed from a running total of purchased items. During scanning of an item, a three headed roller selectively designates the item as a purchase item or as a non-purchase item by marking the bar code with either a red or a green line, so the purchase items can be quickly verified. Alternatively, the roller may change the state of a polarized metallic strip included with the bar code.

Abstract: A bar code reader includes a line sensor having a scanning range large enough to scan two or more bar codes. A portion of the scanning range having a size corresponding to a single bar code is determined as a reading range. A reading range comparator 35 determines when a bar code is positioned within the reading range, so that no other bar code within the scanning range will be read. The reader also has error detection to determine whether counted numbers of bars fall within a permissible range for a given bar code symbology.

Abstract: A hybrid card comprises a substrate carrying an IC chip. An IC terminal is electrically connected to the IC chip and is arranged on a first surface of the substrate. A contact region is defined around the IC terminal and is occupied when a contact terminal of a recording/reproducing apparatus electrically contacts the IC terminal. An optical recording region has a plurality of tracks extending parallel to each other on the first surface. The contact region and the optical recording region are spaced apart in a direction parallel to the tracks.

Abstract: A method of entering a hand-marked response into a system by altering a predetermined modified bar code symbol in a manner so that the bar code is rendered readable. In this manner, bar code reading devices can be utilized to detect the hand-marked response. In an alternative embodiment, one of several potential responses may be marked and rendered non-decodable. A bar code reading device determines which of the several responses has been hand-marked by ascertaining which is non-decodable. Marking the response sheets may be aided by using an opaque template sheet or using a pressure sensitive overlay sheet.

Abstract: The status (`paid` or `not yet paid`) of each ticket to be validated is stored in the main memory of a computer, and a flag indicating whether the ticket is valid, the ticket amount and information necessary to locate the status information for the ticket is encoded into a validation number which is printed on each ticket. When the ticket is presented for validation, the encoded information on the ticket is read, forwarded to the computer and decoded into a status flag, the ticket amount and the status location. The status flag is then checked to determine if the ticket is valid; if it is, the decoded information regarding the status is used to locate the status information in the computer memory and change the status to `paid` so that the ticket cannot be cashed again.

Abstract: A dual pivot mechanism for a disc drive having a base plate and an actuator arm driven by a pinion for moving a transducer head across a disc to read and write to the disc. One end of the pivot arm is pivotally connected to the actuator arm opposite the pinion, another end of the pivot arm has a fixed pivot connection to the base plate, the pivotal connection to the actuator arm being fixed axially. A constant preload mechanism is provided for biasing the pivot arm so that the actuator arm is in constant contact with the pinion.

Abstract: The present invention provides a non-contact IC card having a microcomputer. The microcomputer includes a CPU, a resonance circuit which receives data bits through an electromagnetic wave, an input circuit which detects the data signal, and a decoding circuit which supplies a pulse of predetermined length to the CPU when the input circuit detects the data signal. The detection of the data signal also causes a circuit to close a switch using a reception inhibit signal of a half bit's width. The reception inhibit signal rapidly attenuates the oscillations in a resonance circuit, making it ready to receive the next data bit.