Ticket processing terminal with a single-cylinder ticket advancing

Abstract

A ticket processing terminal includes a cylindrical ticket guide around which tickets are driven by a single drive cylinder which rotates in the ticket guide. An entry port, a feed port, and an exit port all connect to the ticket guide in a spaced relationship around the guide. Raed/write mechanism are placed adjacent the guide at a position which is passed by a ticket entering the guide through the entry or feed port and before the exit port is passed. Tickets are issued by the terminal by providing information to the write mechanism from an external source, feeding a ticket into the guide from either the feed port or the entry port, writing the information on the ticket, reading the printed information for validation, and then diverting the ticket to the exit port before completing a revolution. After being issued, a ticket bearing written information can be processed by the terminal for cancellation. When being cancelled, a ticket is fed into the ticket guide through the entry port, advanced past the read mechanism where the information on the ticket is read, advanced on a complete revolution of the ticket guide past the exit port, cancelled by the write mechanism, and then diverted from the ticket guide through the exit port before completing the second revolution of the ticket guide.