Reading of manually manipulated encoded devices

Claim 2

Reader apparatus for reading opaque identification devices having aligned frangible encodable positions, said apparatus comprising a housing having spaced apart faces, spaced apart ends interconnecting the faces, spaced apart sides interconnecting the faces and the ends, a slot extending into one of said ends and one of said sides, a recess opening into said slot and extending parallel to the said one side and away from said one end, at least one light-emitting means disposed transversely of said slot along one side thereof; a photodiode spaced from each light-emitting means and disposed along the opposite side of the slot, each said photodiode being positioned to receive light from one of said light-emitting means, switch means disposed adjacent to said slot and engageable by an identification device upon full insertion of said identification device into the slot and the recess to control energization of each of said light-emitting means and to hold said light-emitting means energized until the aligned encodable positionS on the identification device have each moved between a light-emitting means and a photodiode as the identification device is moved out of the slot and recess.

Claim 3

Reader apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the switch means, the light-emitting means, and the photodiodes are adapted to be connected into a circuit including means external to the housing for energizing and deenergizing the light-emitting means.

Claim 4

Reader apparatus as in claim 2, further including ready and fail indicator means on the housing and connected into the circuit whereby the ready indicator means indicates when the reader apparatus is ready to read an identification device and the fail indicator means indicates when the data arrangement is improperly presented to be read.

Claim 5

The combination of an identification device and reader apparatus wherein said identification device comprises a planar tab formed of opaque, frangible material and having a plurality of aligned encodable positions thereon whereby a hole is adapted to be punched through said tab at each of said positions, and stud means projecting from at least one face of the tab at a marginal edge of said encodable positions; and wherein said reader apparatus includes a housing having spaced apart faces, spaced apart ends interconnecting the faces, spaced apart sides interconnecting the faces and the ends, a slot extending into one of said ends and one of said sides, said slot receiving the planar tab therein, a recess opening into said slot and extending parallel to the said one side and away from said one end said recess receiving said stud means when said tab is inserted into the slot through the said one end, at least one light-emitting means disposed transversely of said slot along one side thereof, a photodiode spaced from each light-emitting means and disposed along the opposite side of the slot, each said photodiode being positioned to receive light from one of said light-emitting means through holes in the tab at encodable positions, and switch means disposed adjacent to said slot and engageable by the tab when said tab is inserted fully into the slot to control energization of each of said light-emitting means and to hold said light-emitting means energized until the aligned encodable positions on the tab have each moved between a light-emitting source and a photodiode as the tab is moved out of the slot.

Claim 6

The combination of an identification device and reader apparatus wherein said identification device comprises a planar tab formed of opaque, frangible material and having a plurality of aligned encodable positions thereon whereby a hole is adapted to be punched through said tab at each of said positions, and stud means projecting from at least one face of the tab at a marginal edge of said encodable positions; and wherein said reader apparatus includes a housing having spaced apart faces, spaced apart ends interconnecting the faces, spaced apart sides interconnecting the faces and the ends, a slot extending into one of said ends and one of said sides, said slot receiving the planar tab therein, a recess opening into said slot and extending parallel to the said one side and away from said one end said recess receiving said stud means when said tab is inserted into the slot through the said one end, at least one light-emitting means disposed transversely of said slot along one side thereof, a photodiode spaced from each light-emitting means and disposed along the opposite side of the slot, each said photodiode being positioned to receive light from one of said light-emitting means through holes in the tab at encodable positions, and switch means disposed adjacent to said slot and engageable by the tab when said tab is inserted fully into the slot to control energization of each of said light-emitting means and to hold said light-emitting means energized until the aligned encodable positions on the tab have each moved between a light-emitting source and a photodiode as the tab is moved out of the slot.

Claim 7

The combination of claim 4, wherein the switch means, the light-emitting means, and the photodiodes are adapted to be connected into a circuit including means external to the housing for energizing and deenergizing the light-emitting means.

Claim 8

The combination of claim 5, further including ready and fail indicator means on the housing and connected into the circuit whereby the ready indicator means indicates when the reader apparatus is ready to read an indentification device and fail indicator means indicates when the data arrangement is improperly presented to be read.

Claim 9

The combination of claim 6, wherein the stud means comprises a pair of spaced apart studs.