RU2265247C2 - Card for financial transactions - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: magnetic cards, finance.

SUBSTANCE: card has at least one semi-transparent and/or fully transparent surface and machine-readable structure, containing material, having a property not to let through infrared light and mainly let through visible light, while machine-readable structure is distributed along whole surface of card.

EFFECT: possible reading of card independently of position in reader.

9 cl, 31 dwg, 4 ex

Description

The present invention generally relates to cards, such as a transaction card (card) and, in particular, to the manufacture and use of an optically recognizable transparent or translucent transaction card, which may include a hologram, magnetic strip or integrated circuit, as well as other components of the transaction card.

State of the art

The distribution of transaction cards, which enable the cardholder to pay on credit rather than in cash, began in the United States in the early 1950s. The first transaction cards were intended for use in high-end restaurants and hotels by privileged customers. With the advent of plastic credit cards, the use of transaction cards quickly spread outside the United States to Europe, and then around the world. Transaction cards not only carry information, but also usually allow the consumer to pay for goods and services without having cash, or, in case of need for cash, transaction cards enable the consumer to receive cash through automated banking machines (ATMs). The use of transaction cards reduces the risk of cash loss as a result of theft and allows less frequent currency exchange when traveling abroad. Due to the advantages provided by the use of transaction cards, today hundreds of millions of cards are produced and issued annually, as a result of which companies need to introduce differences between their cards and those of competitors.

Initially, embossed cards were marked with information about the name of the issuer, the name of the card holder, card number and expiration date. In addition, there was usually a signature field on the back of the card, where the cardholder left a signature to protect against forgery or modification. Thus, the first cards simply served as a source of data for merchants, and the only way to protect the card was to compare the signature of the card holder on the card with the signature on the receipt, along with the name of the card holder stamped on the card. Many merchants, however, often forgot to compare the signature on the receipt with the signature on the card.

Due to the popularity of transaction cards, numerous companies, banks, airlines, trading groups, sports teams, clubs and other organizations have developed their own transaction cards. At the same time, many companies constantly sought to diversify their transaction cards and expand their market share, not only offering more attractive financing conditions or lower entry fees, but also thanks to the unique, aesthetically attractive features of transaction cards. Moreover, many transaction cards contained not only information about the identity of the holder and account, but also carried graphic images, drawings, photographs and had protective elements. A modern security element is the introduction of a diffraction grating or a holographic image into the transaction card, which create the impression of volume and which significantly limit the possibility of counterfeiting or copying transaction cards, since holograms require very complex installations and equipment. Holograms are obtained when two or more light beams are applied to the emulsion, namely, an object beam and a reference beam, for recording an interferogram arising from interference of light beams. An object beam is a coherent beam reflected from a registered object or passed through a registered object, for example, an image of a company logo, globe, sign or animal. The reference beam is usually a coherent, collimated beam of light with a spherical wavefront. After recording the interferogram, a reference beam with the same wavelength is used to create a holographic image by reconstructing the image from the interferogram.

Under ordinary conditions, however, such a laser beam for reconstructing an image from an interferogram on a card is absent. In this case, it should be possible to observe the hologram in ordinary white light. Therefore, when a hologram is recorded on the transaction card, the image to be registered is placed near the surface of the substrate so that the resulting hologram can be seen in ordinary white light. Such holograms are called reflective surface holograms or rainbow holograms. Reflective holograms can be produced in large quantities on a metal foil and then applied to a transaction card. In addition, the introduction of holograms into transaction cards is a more reliable way to determine the authenticity of a transaction card in ordinary white light when observing the illusion of depth and a play of colors created by the hologram.

In connection with the increasing use of transaction cards, the number of controversial cases related to the organization of the use of cards and their protection has also increased, for example, lawsuits, loans, commercial transactions, fraud, compensation for losses, etc. Therefore, the transaction card industry began to develop more and more advanced transaction cards, which allowed the use of electronic reading, transmission and confirmation of transaction card data for various applications. To meet the needs of the market in expanding the capabilities, functionality and degree of protection, for example, magnetic stripe cards, optical cards, smart cards, business cards and super smart cards have been developed. The application of a magnetic stripe on the back of the transaction card made it possible, in addition to visual information, to store digital data suitable for machine reading. In this case, the device for reading the magnetic code together with a card having a magnetic strip is used to transmit real-time data on the purchase from the cash register and data stored in the magnetic strip to the host computer, for example, information about the account and expiration date.

Due to the fact that the magnetic strip is not protected from fakes and does not ensure the confidentiality of information, as well as due to problems associated with the transfer of data to the host computer, integrated circuits designed for use in transaction cards have been developed. These integrated circuit (IC) cards, called smart cards (or smart cards), have proven their high reliability in a wide variety of applications due to their enhanced security and functional flexibility.

With the development of magnetic stripe cards and smart cards, the need arose to create international standards in this area. The ISO 7810 and ISO 7811 standards of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) normalized the physical dimensions of cards, signs (elements) and embossing zones. The issuer's identification, location of components, encoding requirements, recording technology were determined by ISO 7812 and ISO 7813, and requirements for an integrated circuit card were determined by ISO 7813. For example, ISO 7811 defines the requirements for a magnetic strip, which should be 0 , 5-inch (12.7 mm) strip located either on the front or on the back surface of the card, divided into three longitudinal parallel tracks. The first and second tracks are designed to store only read data and allow you to record, respectively, up to 79 alphanumeric characters and 40 digital characters. The third track is reserved for financial transactions and contains, in encoded form, a personal user identification number, a country code, a currency code, the amounts allowed for the operation, auxiliary accounts and restrictions. Additional information regarding the properties and features of transaction cards can be found, for example, in the books "Smart Cards" by H. L. Zoreda and Jose M.uel Oton, 1994; Smart Card Handbook by W. RankI and W. Effing, 1997, and various ISO transaction card standards available at the US National Institute of Standardization (ANSI, 11 West 42nd Street, New York , NY 10036), the entire contents of all of these publications being incorporated herein by reference.

The introduction of machine-readable components into transaction cards facilitated the proliferation of devices that simplify operations by automatically reading from and writing to the transaction card. Such devices include, for example, barcode scanners, electronic payment terminals at the point of sale, automated teller machines (ATMs) and devices activated by card. As for ATMs, the total number of ATMs sold in 1999 was 179,274 (according to Nielson's reports), including ATMs issued by major ATM manufacturers, namely NCR (138-18 231st Street, Laurelton, New York 11413 (USA)), Diebold (5995 Mayfair, Northy Canton, Ohio 44720-8077 (USA)), Fujitsu (11085 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, Califirnia 92037 (USA)), Omron (Japan), OKI (Japan) and Triton.

For many devices that accept cards, it is necessary that when a transaction card is inserted into the device, the reader's head can be combined with the corresponding part of the transaction card. In particular, many ATMs require that the transaction card be inserted deep enough into the slot of the ATM. After inserting the card into the slot, a special mechanical device that can be part of the ATM, the card is pulled further into the slot of the ATM. To activate the ATM, it usually has a sensor, for example, a phototransistor and a light emitting diode (LED), which illuminates the surface of the card, and the phototransistor receives the LED light. The card does not transmit infrared radiation to the phototransistor, thereby indicating that the presence of the card is detected. Usually used in an ATM, the LED is an infrared (IR) LED - a radiation source with a wavelength in the range of approximately 820-920 nm or 900-1000 nm (see Figure 5), the level of which in ambient light is insufficient to trigger the phototransistor sensor . The spectral sensitivity curve of a typical phototransistor is in the range of 400 nm - 1100 nm (see Figure 6). Visible light, however, occupies a spectral range of approximately 400 nm to 700 nm, and the relative spectral sensitivity of the phototransistor is approximately 60% at a wavelength of 950 nm, and 90% at a wavelength of 840 nm. Thus, visible light is not used in the analog-to-digital algorithm. Moreover, according to the requirement of clause 8.10 of ISO 7810, all cards intended for machine readout must have an optical density for transmission in the range 450 nm - 950 nm more than 1.3 (transmission less than 5%), and in the range 950 nm -1000 nm more than 1.1 (transmittance less than 7.9%).

In order for the card to be detected by the ATM, the path to the light is usually blocked by the card itself. In addition, the amount of light not transmitted by the card is related to the voltage parameters obtained as a result of analog-to-digital conversion. The operating voltage range of the sensor usually lies in the range from 1.5 V to 4.5 V. When the card is inserted into the sensor, the voltage drops to less than 1.5 V, indicating the presence of the card in the transportation system (broach).

After the card is detected by the phototransistor, the magnetic code reader reads the magnetic strip and reads the information recorded on the magnetic strip. The manufacturers of LED sensors in ATMs are, for example, Japanese firms Omron and Sankyo-Seiki (4800 great America Parkway, Suite 201, Santa Clara, Califirnia 95054 (USA)).

As mentioned above, transactional cards and readers are typically compliant with various ISO standards that specifically indicate the location of the data on the card and its components. However, due to the fact that numerous companies produce various types of ATMs, the position of the sensor inside the ATM is not standardized by the requirements of the standard. In the past, a change in the position of the sensor inside the ATM did not affect its ability to detect the presence of a transaction card, since the transaction card had an almost opaque surface and any part of the opaque transaction card could block the radiation of the IR LED and activate the card input phototransistor. Recently, however, in an attempt to create unique images and fulfill consumer requirements, companies have been developing transparent or translucent transaction cards. When using a transparent card, activation of the card input phototransistor often does not occur, since the radiation of the IR LED is not reflected well enough from the transparent surface and simply passes through the card and is received by the phototransistor. Therefore, the device cannot detect the presence of the card and blocks the equipment.

Trying to solve this problem, companies through printing formed opaque patches on transparent cards to create opaque patches for activating an ATM input sensor. However, due to the above-mentioned differences in the arrangement of sensors in many ATMs, when using opaque sections of a limited size on transparent cards, the sensor did not trigger in many ATMs. As another solution, companies tried to introduce a lens into a transaction card, trying to change the direction of the light from the LED. However, during the manufacturing process of the card, which is often associated with exposure to strong pressures and temperatures, the surface of the lens would be damaged and destroyed. At the same time, there is a need for a transparent or translucent transaction card, from which an input sensor can work, which can interact with the card in different places.

Further, during the manufacturing process of the card, the cards must be detected on the assembly line to accurately count the number of cards made in a given time interval. To count cards on many assembly lines producing cards, counters with LED sensors are used, similar to ATM sensors, which count cards according to the reflected light of the LED from the opaque surface of the card. In the manufacture of transparent transaction cards, there are the same restrictions as in ATMs, consisting in the fact that the LED beam is not reflected or is not well absorbed by the transparent surface. Thus, a transparent card is needed that could be produced on existing assembly lines. Similar problems arise when the card is trimmed to its final size.

Despite the fact that existing systems can provide identification and detection of objects, most have a number of disadvantages. For example, identification signs found in ultraviolet or visible light, etc., are often poorly visible, require certain lighting equipment, and usually they need a certain distance between the object and the detecting device. In addition, the use of certain types of plastic, paper or other material containing an identification mark may be limited by the characteristics of a particular recognition device. For example, opaque materials usually deactivate phototransistors in ATMs, not letting in the light both in the visible (near IR) and far infrared ranges. Moreover, the introduction of a detectable or identifiable characteristic in the card requires the use of a separate material or technological operation in the manufacturing process of the card. The introduction of a new material or technological operation often requires costly modification of existing equipment or new equipment, and often increases the duration of the card.

An example of the prior art is US-A-5010243, which discloses a technology that is not related to analogues of the invention; namely, US-A-5010243 describes a method for optically recording and reading data using coherent light sources. US-A-5010243 does not disclose the required function or sign of applying a coating of material on a translucent or transparent card that allows detecting a composite card, for example, with an infrared card detector in an ATM, while basically maintaining optical translucency or transparency for visible light. In fact, the “reflective metal film” disclosed in US-A-5010243 does not have optical transparency, as a result of which the composite recording card of the invention in US-A-5010243 cannot be a translucent or transparent card in visible light .

Japanese Patent JP-A-01004943 issued by Takuji, on the other hand, discloses a data recording card in the central part of which data is stored in the form of a bar code read in infrared so that data can be read from cards, while the data remains almost transparent to visible light. Since the property to reflect infrared light is, according to the patent, only the bar code of the data read out by the infrared rays on the recording card, Takuji does not have a description of the required sign of covering a translucent or transparent card with material detectable in infrared rays, which makes it possible to detect a composite card with the device’s proximity sensor, host card.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a manufacturing process of a transparent or translucent transaction card having one or more elements, for example, a holographic foil, an integrated circuit chip, a shiny magnetic strip with text on a magnetic strip, an optical wedge, an optically recognizable ink (printed) or a film in the card design , a translucent signature field, when the signature on the back of the card is visible on the front side, and the date "is valid until .." on the front side of the card. The card is recognized by optical means due to the invisible or transparent infrared (sensitive to infrared radiation) paint or film, which are distributed on the surface of the card, so the card does not transmit (absorbs, refracts, scatters and / or reflects) infrared light and transmits any other light. In particular, when the transaction card is inserted into the ATM, the light beam from the infrared LED is not transmitted by infrared paint or film, thereby deactivating the phototransistor. Moreover, in the process of manufacturing transaction cards, in the case of optically recognizable cards, using the beam of an infrared LED of a recognition device, a control device or a counter, the number of transaction cards made on the assembly line can be counted.

In accordance with the foregoing, it is proposed a card for financial transactions, mainly transparent to visible light, containing at least one translucent and / or transparent surface of the card, and a machine-readable structure containing material having the property of not transmitting infrared light and mainly transmitting visible light moreover, the machine-readable structure is distributed over the indicated surface with the possibility of activating the sensor regardless of the position of the surface of the card with which it interacts.

More specifically, the card may refer to at least one of the following cards: identification card, smart card, credit card, payment card, debit card, access card, information storage card, electronic commerce card, document, credit card and securities.

In preferred embodiments of the invention, said machine-readable structure comprises at least one of the following components: chemical compound, dye, layered material, pigment, encapsulated pigment, coating, film, thread, plastic, paint, concentrate, thermoplastic base, fiber, paper and plate . A machine-readable structure may also contain at least one of the following components: invisible, visible, and colored. The computer readable structure may include an optically readable component including infrared ink. The machine-readable structure may contain infrared ink having from 0.001 to 40.0% by weight of a substance activated by infrared radiation. A machine-readable structure has at least one of the characteristics: retention, scattering, reflection, refraction, and absorption of infrared radiation. A machine-readable structure may contain at least one of the following components: a binder, an ultraviolet absorber, a reflector, an antioxidant, a fluorescent brightener, a color converter, and a chemical to control the flow properties.

List of drawings and other materials

For a better understanding of the present invention, illustrative drawings are attached to its detailed description and claims. Drawings may be sketchy, out of scale. In the drawings, the same reference numbers or steps refer to like parts throughout the drawings.

Figure 1 presents a view of the front side used as an example of a transaction card, in accordance with an example implementation of the present invention;

Figure 2 presents a view of the back side used as an example of a transaction card, in accordance with an example implementation of the present invention;

Figure 3 presents a flowchart of a card manufacturing process in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a graph of reflected and transmitted energy versus wavelength for an IR film, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 5 presents the dependence curve for a typical IR (infrared) LED source in an ATM with a wavelength in the range of approximately 820-920 nm or 900-1000 nm, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 6 presents the spectral sensitivity curve of a typical phototransistor having a wavelength in the range of 400 nm - 1100 nm, in accordance with an example implementation of the present invention;

7-12, various embodiments of card layers are shown in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

On Fig schematically shows the device used as an example of a sensor inside an ATM, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

On Fig presents an example of a reflection and transmission monitor with various optical components for monitoring the parameters of the infrared film in the process of coating by vacuum evaporation on a production line with a film rewind, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

On Fig presents an exemplary system for chemical vacuum deposition of a film of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

On Fig presents used as an example, options for layers for the design of the card, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

On Fig graphically presents examples of the bond strength of the film in the form of the dependence of the force (kg / m) on the binder for various binders of the film, in accordance with an example implementation of the present invention;

On Fig graphically presents examples of bond strength at the boundary between the films in the form of the dependence of the force (kg / m) on the type of border for various boundaries between the films, in accordance with an example implementation of the present invention;

On Fig presents used as an example, the ingredients of infrared paint, which give a green color, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

On Fig presents the measurement results related to these used as an example of green cards, in accordance with an example implementation of the present invention;

On Fig presents used as an example the test results of the ATM when using used as an example of green cards, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

On Fig presents an example of the transmission used as an example of green cards in the form of a graph of the dependence of transmission (in percent) on the wavelength, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

Figures 23-31 show examples of test results for various card designs as a function of transmission (in percent) versus wavelength (in nm), in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Information confirming the possibility of carrying out the invention

In General, the present invention is intended for the recognition and detection of various products, when these products contain materials including compounds that can be recognized by machine methods. Such products include, for example, transaction cards, documents, papers (credit cards, securities, etc.) and / or similar products. Materials include, for example, coatings, films, filaments, plastics, paints, fibers, paper, plates and / or similar materials.

In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, machine-readable structures are optically readable components (compounds) containing ingredients that inhibit infrared radiation (absorption, refraction, scattering, reflection, or otherwise). Optically recognizable compounds may be invisible, visible or colored to create the desired effect, and / or they may contain other detectable compounds, for example, have ultraviolet or infrared fluorescence. It is desirable that the optical compounds have high stability, strength, durability and other physical properties, for example, attractive appearance, elasticity, hardness, poor solubility, water resistance, corrosion resistance, and appearance stability. In addition, the use of such compounds usually does not interfere with the use of ultraviolet formulations, which can be included in many substances. One skilled in the art will recognize that an optically recognizable compound is any chemical substance, solution, dye, paint, material, and / or anything else that is recognized by the sensor. In an exemplary embodiment, an optically recognizable ink is an infrared ink that does not transmit, absorb or reflect most of the infrared light, but transmits light at most other wavelengths.

In an exemplary embodiment, the optically readable component is incorporated into the material in the form of a film, plastic, fiber, paint, concentrate, thermoplastic or thermosetting binder, thread, plate and / or any other medium that contains by weight from about 0.001 to 40.0 wt.% Activated by infrared radiation compounds obtained from organic or inorganic materials. Infrared ink can be applied to the card 5 (see Figure 1), for example, using screen printing technology, or by another method of printing or coating, for example, lithography, gravure printing, flexography, calendering, irrigation, roller coating and / or other way. The screen printing technology used as an example uses drying equipment (UV curing or convection heating) and a screen with a specific cell size of about 80 lines / cm. Infrared ink is applied to any part of the entire surface of the plastic card using a silk-screen printing machine, as described below.

Since the eye of an average person at a given level of illumination senses light in the range of 400-770 nm, it is preferable to use infrared paint at wavelengths greater than 770 nm, since it is not visible to the human eye when illuminated with ordinary white light. In this case, the invisible infrared material will not noticeably obscure the transparent surface of the card 5. In addition, the paint used in this example withstands the effects of temperatures in the range of 200-400 ° F (93.3-204.4 ° C), which the card is exposed to during manufacturing, and are characterized by a lightfastness period (resistance to ink fading or degradation in the presence of any light, especially ultraviolet light) for at least about three years under normal credit card operating conditions. In addition, the paint used in this example delays, absorbs or reflects radiation at a wavelength of an infrared LED, for example, a Sankyo Seiki LED emitting in the range of about 800-1000 nm. The paint used in the given example also traps the light incident on the phototransistors, therefore, the presence of a clean paint card is detected by the operation machine, for example, an ATM-card capturing card.

Used as an example in the present invention, machine-readable structures comprise a mixture of a wide variety of compounds. Active compounds are composed of inorganic, organometallic or organic layered materials or rare earth compounds, most often oxides of rare earth metals, sulfur oxides or halides. Since these compounds are relatively inert, their effect on the operational properties of the final product is minimal. Infrared compounds contain either paint, a layered material, a pigment, and / or an encapsulated pigment, which is distributed in a special medium that can be introduced into a wide variety of end products. The particle size of the infrared compounds is such that it allows you to optimally distribute or dissolve the materials (plastic, thread, paint, etc.), ensuring the uniformity of their concentration inside the products where they are introduced.

Known common infrared materials containing layered dielectric or metallic materials, or materials with rare earth additives, can be effectively used as pigments for compounds in accordance with the exemplary embodiments of the present invention. In this case, pigments or dyes absorb energy at certain wavelengths and can convert energy with one wavelength to energy with a different wavelength. Transformations or absorption of energy can occur above or below the excitation wavelength within the electromagnetic spectrum. Compounds can absorb light at specific wavelengths, or change color, or compounds can be converted from invisible to visible, and / or the like. Thus, the infrared compounds in the present invention are introduced into a system that reversibly converts energy from one wavelength to energy with a different wavelength, whereby a detectable “fingerprint” type sign can be created inside the products.

In addition, the prepared films or materials can be mixed with a binder to form infrared compounds for use in filaments, fibers, coatings, etc. Binders that can be used in the present invention include conventional additives, for example paraffins, thermoplastic polymers, rubbers , natural resins or synthetic resins. Examples of such binders include polypropylene, nylon, polyester, ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer, polyvinyl acetate, polyethylene, chlorinated rubber, acrylic resin, epoxy resin, butadiene nitrile, alkali, zein, cellulose, polyurethane, polyvinyl butyrate, vinyl chloride, silicone alcohol, polyvinyl methyl ether, nitrocellulose, polyamide, bismaleimide, polyimide, a mixture of epoxy and polyester resins and / or the like. Films such as polyester, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, polyethylene, acrylic, polycarbonate and / or the like can be used. As shown below, any film can be laminated or attached to a regular card using heat, adhesives, or combinations thereof.

If the content of the connection is too low, the blocking effect may be weaker than required, and the phototransistor will not give a proper signal to the capture device, which will mean that the card is not detected. Therefore, the content of infrared compounds in the composition is usually from one millionth of a part to 80 weight percent, and in a preferred embodiment, the weight is approximately 0.25% to 25%. Moreover, it is contemplated by the present invention that other materials, such as ultraviolet absorbers, reflectors, antioxidants, and / or fluorescent brighteners, may be added to increase the strength, durability, and aesthetic properties of the materials.

In order to ensure a color shift from one color to another after stimulating irradiation, other materials can be introduced in particular. Commonly used materials, such as paints, pigments, fluorescent paints, luminous pigments and / or the like, can be used to activate reversible color changes from one color state to another color state. Such materials can be introduced directly with infrared compounds at the beginning of the manufacturing process or can be added after the infrared compounds have been processed. Solvents, water, glycol and / or similar materials can also be used, for example, to obtain the desired viscosity characteristics of the material. In addition, surfactants, defoamers, release agents, adhesion promoters, color equalizers and / or the like may also be added to formulations to improve the process. Fluorescent brighteners can also be added to ensure whiteness in a bleached state and to maintain a low level of contrast between many areas of the substrate where the infrared compounds are located.

Fibers of various materials may also be used, either with continuous filling or in the form of individual fibers incorporated into a wide variety of materials. The present invention contemplates the use of, for example, natural fibers, synthetic fibers, copolymer fibers, chemical fibers, metal fibers and / or the like. Examples of such fibers are nylon, polyester fiber, cotton, wool, silk, casein fiber, protein fiber, acetate staple, ethyl cellulose, polyvinylidene chloride, polyurethane, acetate fiber, fiber based on polyvinyl alcohol, triacetate, glass, wood, mineral fiber , carbon fiber, inorganic fibers and / or the like. Such fibers can be incorporated into another type of material, for example paper pulp, a mass of plastic stickers, plastic materials and the like. Such materials can be used individually during continuous filling or can be used as single or double strands in other materials.

Moreover, infrared materials introduced into plastics can be used in conjunction with a wide variety of materials, for example, nylon, plexiglass, epoxy, polyester, bismaleimide, polyimide, styrene, silicone, vinyl, acrylonitrile, butadiene and styrene copolymer, polycarbonate, nitrile and / or like them. At the same time, compounds that are introduced into fibers, plastics, films and / or others can be processed directly into the desired form when applied as part of a single or multi-stage process. Such compounds can be added to the composition in the form of a single ingredient, or in the form of a base charge, with which technological operations are then carried out by analogy with the conventional technology for processing compounds. The processing technology of such compounds includes the use of continuous mixers, two- and three-roll rollers, extrusion and / or other methods of distribution of molten compounds. Although in the exemplary embodiment, the thread may be woven or not woven, infrared materials can be extruded directly into a thermoplastic binder material and stretched directly in the form of a thread that can be used for continuous filling, or separated in the form of fibers or plastic film.

The infrared compounds used as an example are applied to films of various compositions and can be used on most cards. Moreover, infrared compounds in accordance with the present invention can be used alone or in a mixture with other materials in weight concentrations from 0.001 to 50.0 parts, with the most preferred weight content from 1.0 to 15.0 parts.

The following is a more detailed illustration of the implementation of the present invention with reference to the following examples, comparative examples, control examples and examples of use. As shown in these examples, test results, and graphs, the resulting paint fairly well inhibits infrared radiation, preventing it from being detected by a phototransistor. It is understood that the present invention is not limited to the foregoing. A specialist, for example, may imagine that in any of the examples the paint may contain other materials to create other optical effects or solve identification problems.

EXAMPLE 1

In this example, approximately 2% Epolin VII-164 and approximately 98% Tech Mark Mixing Clear, manufactured by Sericol, Inc., are used. 980.0 g of “Tech Mark” solvent-based screen printing ink is mixed in a high-speed dispersant. In the process of stirring, 20.0 g of the “Epolight VII-164” dye is completely dissolved. The resulting ink has a viscosity of about 3.2 Pa · s at 25 ° C and is applied using screen printing. For screen printing, 305 polymer stencils are used on both sides of a transparent polyvinyl chloride film with a thickness of 13 mils (330 μm).

EXAMPLE 2

Another paint was prepared by adding approximately 15.0 pounds (6.8 kg) of Epolight VII-164 and approximately 20.0 pounds (9.1 kg) of Epolight VI-30 to approximately 965 pounds (437.7 kg ) "TM Mixing Clear". The mixture was stirred for about 40 minutes. The resulting mixture was applied to a plastic polyvinyl chloride (PVC) carrier layer using a polyester stencil having 80 lines per cm. The resulting coating had a high absorption capacity in the wavelength range from 780 nm to 1070 nm with low absorption of visible light. The carrier layer of the card, the magnetic strip and the laminating layer were folded into a bag, which was then placed in a Burckle Stack Lamination Unit at a temperature of about 280 ° F (137.8 ° C).

EXAMPLE 3

About 30.0 g of "Epolight VII-172" was mixed with approximately 700.0 g of PVC plastic. The resulting mixture was extruded at approximately 260 ° F (126.7 ° C), cooled in air, and granulated. About 1.0 pounds (0.45 kg) of the resulting granules were mixed with approximately 99.0 pounds (44.9 kg) of PVC. Klockner Pentaplast manufactured calendered sheets with a thickness of approximately 0.013 inches (330 microns). Cards were made from these sheets. These cards provided a sufficiently high absorption in the infrared range of wavelengths from 800 nm to 1000 nm. Cards were tested in the gripper of a Sankyo ATM.

EXAMPLE 4

A multilayer plastic made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with sufficiently high optical characteristics was introduced into the card design. PET plastic was supplied by 3M Co. (Minneapolis, Minnesota (USA)). The optical characteristics of the resulting card were sufficient for the ATM to detect the card.

ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES

Further examples of IR ink formulations are presented in FIG. 19. The infrared inks shown in FIG. 19 are green in visible light. Next, FIG. 20 shows the results of measurements of the characteristics of samples of these cards, including transmission at certain wavelengths, the ability to be read by an ATM and compliance with ISO requirements. On Fig presents examples of test results of samples of green cards, during which samples of cards were introduced into ATMs of various companies. Tests have shown that card samples are detected by ATMs. Next, Fig. 22 shows an example of the dependence of the transmittance of green card samples as a percentage of wavelength (the graph also shows the ISO requirements for cards).

Figures 23-31 show examples of test results of various card designs in the form of transmittance dependencies as a percentage of wavelength (nm). For example, FIG. 23 illustrates a quality assurance of IR paint applied to PVC in the absence of text. Here the curve corresponds to one of the four corners of the card sample. Other curves correspond to other samples selected after the production of any number of cards, for example approximately 50 cards. On Fig shows the transmittance in percent radiation at different wavelengths for cards with different paint composition, where each curve corresponds to a card with a different paint composition.

25-31 show the spectral characteristics of various films, coatings, cards, etc., which demonstrate the ability of the materials used in the construction of the card to retain a fairly large portion of infrared radiation and transmit visible light to obtain cards described in an embodiment of the invention. As a mechanism for delaying radiation, absorption, reflection, scattering and other methods of restraining electromagnetic radiation can be used.

In addition to infrared ink, a film or a “hot” mirror can also be used as an optically recognizable compound, which also traps (absorbs or reflects) infrared light but transmits radiation at all other wavelengths. In an exemplary embodiment, a film is placed between the face sheet 10 and the back sheet 12. Figure 4 shows the reflected and transmitted energy versus wavelength for reflecting and transmitting an IR film sample in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The graph in FIG. 4 shows that while visible light passes through the film, infrared light is delayed with increasing wavelength and a significant proportion of infrared light is reflected.

Optically recognizable compounds can be introduced into plastics, films, goods, documents and other products, which may make it difficult to detect them using phototransistors, CCD devices and / or the like. The material may be introduced into the transaction card by film, plastic, printing ink, coating, or other applied material by grinding or using dispersed or deposited material in the form of a liquid, paste, or other form. To minimize damage to the paint during operation, such as scratching, it is advisable to apply the paint directly to plastic sheets under lamination (described in step 170). In addition, infrared paint can be applied to the inner or outer surfaces of plastic sheets.

In an exemplary embodiment, the introduction of an optically recognizable compound into the product may not require special equipment for printing, modification of existing process equipment, or additional operations. In particular, in the manufacture of products, such as transaction cards, existing equipment is used that still uses dyes, so adding optically recognizable compounds to existing dyes does not require additional equipment or technological operations.

In yet another embodiment, an optically readable component traps light that is detected by the machine. In particular, machines can detect the presence of a card due to the interference of infrared waves at one or more wavelengths. In an exemplary embodiment, the material detection process may include creating visual effects when materials are interrogated by invisible infrared radiation from the corresponding device, and when this radiation is incident on the infrared material, a visual effect, such as the appearance of color radiation, can be seen. Alternatively, materials can be detected by a remote sensor that detects the presence of materials. Detection or recognition of materials occurs at a wavelength greater or less than the wavelength of the stimulating radiation of the reading device. Moreover, when an optically recognizable material is detected, the detecting device generates a recognition signal to the consumer, which in the preferred embodiment should be located on or near the detecting device.

In an exemplary embodiment, when detecting IR materials, sensors in ATMs are triggered. In particular, with respect to the image in FIG. 13, it can be said that the card of the present invention transmits most of the visible light (from about 400 nm to 700 nm), which makes the card appear translucent, and at the same time, holds the light at certain lengths waves (approximately 700 nm or more), which allows phototransistors in ATMs to detect that the card is inserted into the transport mechanism. As shown above, an ATM detecting device used as an example comprises an IR LED, a filter, and a phototransistor.

In addition to the inclusion of sensors in ATMs, translucent cards 5 can be used with any reader of magnetic strips or smart cards. The reader system may include a card reader / writer, an electronic payment terminal at a point of sale, an ATM or other card acceptor. In an exemplary embodiment, card 5 is used in conjunction with a reader that not only detects the presence of the card, but also illuminates the transparent portion of the card 5 when the card is inserted in the reader. The light source can be either a thermal radiation source or a solid state source (infrared LED or laser). In the process, when the card is inserted into the card receiving device, the card edge presses on the illuminator assembly (or turns on the switch, interrupts the beam, etc.). Depending on the purpose of the card, the light source can be controlled either from the card receiving device or by an external computer. Thus, a lighting source controlled by an external computer program can highlight or highlight a specific color. In addition, depending on the card device, the light source can be used to activate the built-in structure used to protect or improve product performance.

As shown above, optically recognizable compounds can be incorporated into any type of product. An example product is a transaction card, which in itself can contain any number of elements (features). In an exemplary embodiment, the present invention comprises, in general, a transaction card 5, consisting of a base containing opaque, transparent or translucent layers 10, 12 of plastic and several elements belonging to the card 5, for example, text 30, 32, 34, logo 50 , embossed characters 35, magnetic strip 42, signature field 45, holographic foil 15, integrated circuit chip 20 and optical wedge (variable opacity portion) 25 (see FIGS. 1 and 2).

Card 5 also contains the optically readable component described above, by which a transparent or translucent card 5 can be recognized by card readers, such as ATMs, and / or transparent cards 5 are recognized and counted during card production. The optically readable component on the transparent card 5 is a practically invisible or translucent infrared paint, mirror or film that traps (absorbs or reflects) infrared light but transmits radiation at all other wavelengths (see Figure 4). Card 5 can be used to implement the functions of a credit, payment, debit card, access card (pass), identity card, card for storing information, electronic commerce and / or other functions.

As shown in FIG. 3, for manufacturing a card 5 having a face and a reverse surface in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a face sheet 10 and a back surface sheet 12 are made (step 100) (FIGS. 1 and 2) consisting of a plastic substrate, for example, transparent polyvinyl chloride. One skilled in the art will appreciate that sheets 10 and 12 of card 5 can be made of any suitable transparent, translucent, and / or opaque material, for example, plastic, glass, organic glass, and / or any combination thereof. Sheets 10, 12 are essentially the same and, in a preferred embodiment, have a size of about 3 '× 4' (622 mm × 548 mm) and a thickness of about 0.005-0.350 inches (0.127-8.89 mm) or, in a preferred embodiment, 0 , 01-0.15 inches (0.254-3.81 mm) or 13.5 mil (343 microns).

According to the drawing in Fig. 7, the production of sheets of individual cards includes either direct assembly (9 layers) of film or the use of intermediate assemblies (5 layers). An intermediate assembly as an example consists of 5 layers of a film bonded with an adhesive binder at room temperature, applied over thermoset and thermoplastic binders. The resulting cards contain (from the front of the card to the back of the card) an outer laminating layer of PVC with a thickness of 2.0 mil (50.8 μm) having a holographic foil, an embossing surface, an integrated circuit chip and other distinctive signs on its surface, bearing a PVC layer with a thickness of 9.0 mils (228.6 μm) with printing, with the print located on the outside of the layer (the front surface of the card), a bonding layer of PVC with a thickness of 2.0 mils (50.8 μm), a layer of PET PT (extrusion coating polyethylene terephthalate tolerance adhesive bonding / embossing) 1.7 mils (43.18 μm) thick, manufactured by D&K (525 Crossen, Elk Grove Village, IL 60007 (USA)), 2.0 mils (50.8 μm) thick PET film, retarding IR radiation, 1.7 mils (43.18 μm) thick PET PET layer, 2.0 mils (50.8 μm) thick PET bonding layer, 9.0 mils (228.6 μm) thick PVC backing layer. moreover, the print is located on the outer side of the layer (the back surface of the card), and the outer laminating layer on the reverse side is 2.0 mil (50.8 μm) thick, having a signature field, a magnetic strip and other distinctive marks. In an optimal embodiment, an infrared-containing PETP IR film is inserted in the middle of the layers to obtain a balanced design and prevent warping of the finished card. Other examples of the implementation of the layers presented on Fig-12. In addition, FIG. 16 shows details of embodiments of layers / sheets of a card structure, including layer number, material, layer thickness (in miles (μm)), source / manufacturer of material, notes regarding information on adhesion force and full thickness (in miles (microns)). In addition, in Fig.17 data on the adhesion force are presented on the graph of the dependence of the force (kg / m) from the joined films for various options for the connections of the films. On Fig the adhesion force at the boundary of the films is presented in the form of a graph of the dependence of the force (kg / m) on the interfaces of the films for various combinations of interfaces.

After the final merging of the layers (step 160), when, in the preferred embodiment, the face sheet 10 is attached over the back surface sheet 12, the total thickness of the transaction card 5 is about 0.032 inches (0.813 mm), which corresponds to the ISO thickness requirements for smart cards. Since the integrated circuit chip 20 is ultimately inserted into the substrate surface (step 195), and the surface of the chip 20 is aligned with the outer surface of the face sheet 10, the integrated circuit chip 20 does not change the overall thickness of the card 5. In addition, on sheets of size 3 '× 4 'there are signs defining the boundaries of individual cards 5, which are subsequently cut from the sheet. From each sheet given as an example, more than 50 transaction cards (usually 56 cards) are obtained, while the size of each card corresponds to the ISO standard, namely about 2 "× 3.5" (5.1 × 8.9 cm).

In general, an exemplary process for manufacturing a card 5 containing an infrared film involves the chemical deposition of a film of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) having the best properties in the visible and infrared ranges. Chemical deposition is carried out through the Magnetron Machine, manufactured by The Magnetron Company. As shown in FIG. 15, a film deposition chemical vapor deposition system with film rewinding having three coating zones is used for this. A film rewinding magnetron coating system applies layers containing silver, gold and indium oxide to optical quality polyethylene terephthalate using a chemical vapor deposition process. The Ag / Au / ln layers each have a thickness of about 100 Å and, depending on the magnitude of the reflection of radiation at the minimum wavelength, three to five layers are made. Details regarding vacuum sputtering, electron beam sputtering and magnetron sputtering can be found, for example, in the Optical Properties Guide, Volume 1, Thin Films for Optical Coatings, published by R. Hummel & KH Guenther, 1995, CRC Press, Inc, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Next, the PET film is subjected to plasma or flame treatment to relieve surface stresses on the film (step 110). In the process of coating and laying layers, the parameters of the IR film are monitored in order to optimize its characteristics in the infrared range of the spectrum, where it does not transmit radiation. In this case, the film is tested by comparison with a standard using a spectrophotometer to check the properties of the PET film in the visible and infrared wavelengths (step 115). As shown in FIG. 14, a reflection and transmission control device with various optical components is used to monitor the IR film for a production line with film rewind where vacuum spraying is performed. Operational spectrophotometric monitoring is part of the vapor deposition process. Throughout the process, transmittance is measured at various wavelengths. An adhesive binder is applied to PET ST (polyethylene terephthalate, which allows bonding and stamping) (step 120), and a layer laminated under pressure is applied to the metal surface of indium oxide on a non-infrared PET film (step 125). Further, on the PETF side of the film that does not transmit infrared radiation, an adhesive binder is applied and a layer laminated under pressure is applied to PET PT (step 135). Lamination in this example is carried out at a temperature of 280 ° F (137.8 ° C) and a pressure of 600 psi (4137 kPa) for 22 minutes, after which cooling is performed for approximately 18 minutes without relieving pressure. A binder activated by heating is applied to both outer sides of the PET PT layers, or, in another embodiment, a PVC binder layer is applied to both outer sides of the PET PT (step 140).

In an exemplary embodiment, some compounds are printed onto the surface of layers 10 and 12. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that printing of text 30, 32, 34, logo 50, optically recognizable ink and optical wedge 25 can be done on any surface of the card 5, for example, of the front surface 10, the reverse surface 12, the inner or outer surface of any layer, between two layers of the base material and / or a combination thereof. Moreover, any suitable method of printing, labeling, embossing, marking, etc. is within the scope of the claims of the present invention,

An optical wedge 25 and an optically recognizable ink are applied to the sheets by silk-screen printing (step 150). The optical wedge 25 used as an example is a portion coated with silver-pearl ink with a gradually changing density, the density of the colorful texture having the highest value at the top of card 5 and gradually decreasing, with better transparency, as it approaches the bottom of card 5. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the optical wedge 25 can have any density along the wedge 25, and the wedge 25 can extend in any direction along the surface of the card 5. The optical wedge 25 can be made any composition that can provide a similar optical wedge 25 on the card 5. Used as an example, the optical wedge 25, made with ink on each card 5, is printed using known printing inks intended for printing on plastic, for example, Pantone dyes. In an exemplary embodiment, the ink used to print the portion 25 is a silver-pearl ink applied to the outer surface of each plastic sheet. Wedge 25 is printed with ink on the surface of each sheet using silk-screen printing, which provides an opaque, dense ink coating, or using offset printing, which provides a grayscale image with fine details. The words "American Express" are applied with "Pantone 8482" using a similar process of silk-screen printing.

In particular, when performing silk-screen printing, a large number of photocopies of the stencil of the required optical wedge 25 are made, according to the number of individual cards 5, which must be made of sheets. Then the photocopies of the stencil are superimposed by any method known in photolithography on the stencil and its development is performed. The stencil is placed on the sheet and the paint is applied as necessary on the surface of the stencil. Developed stencil places pass ink through the stencil, and the ink remains on the sheet, repeating the pattern of the photographic stencil. If multi-color printing is required, this process can be repeated for each color. In addition, security elements can be made by silk-screen printing on card 5, for example, the invisible ultraviolet logo of a payment card (visible in black) is printed with two-color printing using Pantone 307 and Pantone 297 inks, using offset and silk-screen printing machines.

Text 30, 32, 34 and the logo 50 are printed on the outer surface of each sheet using a known printing process, for example, the offset printing process (step 155), which gives a thinner layer of ink, but a sharper text. In particular, when performing offset printing, the photographic template is copied onto a metal plate, and the metal plate is installed in an offset printing machine, which can print up to four colors in one pass. The text printed in offset printing includes, for example, the name 30 of the company, indication 33 of copyright, number 34 in the bar code, the date "valid until ..." 32, contact phone numbers, instructions on restrictions on use (not shown) and / or the like. The text in the above example is offset by 4DBC offset printing using opaque white ink or a special Panatone Cool Gray 11 compound called UV AMX Gray.

Due to the fact that the resulting card 5 may be transparent, the text may be visible on both sides of card 5. Moreover, if the text is printed on only one sheet, the text may not be visible on the opposite side of card 5 (in other words, when trying to see the text through the plastic backing). In order to keep the text to a minimum extent, printing on the front sheet 10 is done on its outer surface with plain text, and the same text is printed on the outer surface of the return sheet 12, but in a “mirror” form. The text on the back sheet 12 is aligned with the text on the front sheet 10, moreover, to combine the text, marks of the outline of the card 5 on the common sheet are used. Some inscriptions or drawings that can be covered with card material 5 (magnetic strip 40, chip 20, etc.) can be printed on only one sheet. For example, in the exemplary embodiment, the company logo 50 is printed on only one sheet and is located behind the integrated circuit chip 20, so that it is not visible from the front side 10 and covers at least part of the integrated circuit chip 20 when viewed from the reverse sides 12. It is clear to a specialist that any offset printing can be done on the outer and inner surfaces of the sheets.

The lamination layer, which is applied to the back side 12 of card 5 (step 170), preferably contains rows of magnetic strips 40, where each magnetic strip 40 corresponds to a separate card 5. Magnetic strip 40 extends along the larger size of card 5 and is applied to the reverse surface 12 while the upper part of the card 5 complies with ISO standards for the size and placement of the strip 40. The magnetic strip 40, however, can have any width, length, shape, and can be located anywhere on the card 5. Double-track magnetic lane 40, together with the recorded data, can be obtained, for example, from Dai Nippon (1-1, Ichigaya Kagacho 1-chome, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8001, Japan (Japan), tel. (in Tokyo): 03-3266-2111). In an exemplary embodiment, a magnetic strip is applied to the outer laminating layer in a tape attachment that attaches the cold rewind magnetic strip to the roll of the outer lamination by means of a hot rolling die at the required pressure. Then, before laying the card layers, the roll is cut at the output of the tape attachment unit to the sheets, and the strip is melted into the card during lamination.

Although the currently known magnetic strips 40 are black, the silver magnetic stripe 40 is used as an example embodiment of the present invention. The magnetic stripe 40 used as an example has an Oersted induction of 2750 and also complies with ISO standards. In addition, a print is made on the silver magnetic strip 40. Printing on the magnetic strip 40 may contain any suitable text, logo 50, foil 15 with a hologram and / or the like; in an exemplary embodiment, the print contains text with the address of an Internet website. Dai Nippon Co., Ltd (more information about Dai Nippon can be found at www.dnp.co.jp) prints holograms on a magnetic strip, using, for example, the Dai Nippon CPX10000 card printing system that uses reverse technology ink transfer by evaporation, in which the thermal head does not come into contact with the surface of the card. The card printing system uses double transfer technology to print the image with a thermal head on a clean film and then transfer the printed image onto the card material itself using a hot roller. Data is printed onto the surface of magnetic strip 40 by, for example, American Banknote Holographies (399 Executive Blvd., Elmsfordn, NY 10523 (USA), tel. (914) 592-2355). Additional information relating to printing onto magnetic strip 40 can be found, for example, in US Pat. No. 4,684,795, issued August 4, 1987 to the United States Banknote Company of New York, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

After the printing of the necessary labels is completed and the magnetic strip is attached, the face sheet 10 and the return sheet 12 are folded (step 160), and the sheets, in the preferred embodiment, are bonded to each other by any suitable method, for example, any suitable binder. Any specialist should understand that instead of printing on two sheets and fastening two sheets, a single plastic card 5 can be used, when printing is first done on one side of the card 5, and then the same card 5 is again passed through the printing press for printing on the other side. In the present invention, after bonding the sheets, lamination sheets of approximately the same size as plastic sheets, namely 3 '× 4', are applied to the front surface 10 and the back surface 12 of the card 5. After the laminating layers are applied to the front 10 and back 12 of the folded plastic sheets (step 170), the layers of card 5 are compressed at the required pressure and heated to approximately 300 ° F (148.9 ° C) at a pressure in the range of 90-700 psi (621-4826 kPa), for a time sufficient to form a single card 5. The described card manufacturing process can be carried out, for example, by Oberthur Card Systems (15 James Hance Court, Exton, Pennsylvania (USA)).

In an exemplary embodiment, card layers are fused by lamination using temperature and pressure. During pressing at high temperature, the press heats up to about 300 ° F (148.9 ° C), and the pressure rises to about 1000 psi (6895 kPa) and holds for about 90 seconds. Then, for approximately 30 seconds, the pressure decreases to approximately 350 psi (2413 kPa) and is held for 16 minutes at the same temperature, namely 300 ° F (148.9 ° C). The card is then transferred to a cold press at a temperature of about 57 ° F (13.9 ° C). The pressure rises to about 400 psi (2758 kPa) and holds for about 16 minutes. At the same time, water cooled to a temperature of approximately 57 ° F (13.9 ° C) is passed through the press plates. Then the card is removed from the cold press.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, after lamination, a signature field is made on the back surface 12 of the card 5 (step 175), and a holographic foil 15 is applied to the front surface 10 of the card 5 (step 190). As for the signature field 45, , although in existing designs the signature fields are made by gluing a paper-like ribbon on the back 12 of the card 5, in the example embodiment of the present invention, the signature field 45 is a translucent rectangle of 2 "× 3/8" (5.1 × 0.95 cm) applied to the card by hot pressing. Verification by the merchant of the signature in signature field 45 is often a requirement of the card issuer 5 in order to remove from the merchant financial liability for fraud with card 5. Moreover, the translucent signature field 45 on the transparent card 5 not only allows the employee to see at least part of signature field 45 on the front side of card 5, but the type of signature also prompts the employee to turn over card 5 and verify the authenticity of the signature on the receipt.

After the sheets of cards are laminated, the sheets are cut into separate cards 5 (step 180) using the known stamping operation, including the necessary drying, deburring, heating, cleaning and / or sealing of the edges. The individual transaction cards 5 have a size of about 3 "× 4" (7.6 × 19.2 cm) and comply with the ISO standards for cards in terms of shape and size. In an exemplary embodiment, the laminated sheets of 56 cards are cut in half on guillotine shears, forming two half sheets of 28 cards each. Half sheets are laid in a stamping press for cutting cards, where the sheets are combined with the stamp (along the x and y axes) using pre-marked marks for alignment, on which the optical sensors of the machine are oriented. Then the half-sheets are filed under the stamp in seven steps. In particular, a fixed pitch is controlled by another optical sensor, which stops the feed when passing the registration mark printed on the sheet, after which the press cuts a row of four cards at a time. After cutting in the press and conducting final operations in accordance with conventional technology, the line is monitored (step 185) for the reflection characteristics in the infrared range before applying the holographic foil 15.

In an exemplary embodiment, the holographic foil 15 is attached to the card 5 (step 190) in any suitable manner. In an exemplary embodiment, for cutting individual sheets of foil 15 from a large sheet of holographic foil 15, an approximately square steel stamp is used with a size of about 1-1 / 4 "× 1-1 / 4" (3.2 × 3.2 cm) with rounded corners and a protrusion of 0.0007 inches (0.0178 mm) on the contact surface. The stamp is part of the hot stamping unit, with the stamp passing through the sheet of foil 15, cutting the foil 15 around a specific image, and immediately applying the foil 15 using heat to the surface of the front side 10 of the card 5 after lamination of the card. The stamp temperature is 300 ± 10 ° F (148.9 ± 5.5 ° C). The exposure time is approximately 1/2 s, and the application speed depends on the characteristics of the particular hot stamping application unit. The indicated temperature and holding time are determined for a capacity of 100 cards per minute. Additional details on applying a holographic image by hot stamping are given in US Pat. Nos. 4,206,965; 4,421,380; 4589686 and 4717221, issued to Stephen P. McGrew (Stephen P. McGrew), which are incorporated into this description by reference.

As for the holographic foil 15, the foil 15 can be of any color, contain any hologram, can be placed anywhere on the card 5 and can be cut out of any size, shape and thickness. In the used embodiment, the sheet of holographic foil 15 preferably has a gray binder material on the lower side and a blue mirror volume holographic surface on the upper side containing a large number of holographic images, each 1-1 / 4 "× 1-1 / 4" in size ( 3.2 × 3.2cm). The hologram shown as an example is visible from all sides and scatters the spectrum of colors when illuminated with white light. A full-color hologram is made, for example, by American Banknote Holographies.

The corners of the individual leaflets of the foil 15 are preferably rounded in order to reduce the likelihood of the peeling of the foil 15 from the surface of the card 5. Moreover, when applied to the card, the blue holographic surface faces the opposite side of the card 5, while the gray adhesive side is attached to the surface of the card 5. The upper surface of the holographic foil 15 can be made by any suitable method, for example, holography using reflection of an object beam or transmission of an object beam, chemical washing, the introduction of specularly reflecting compounds and / or any combination thereof. The manufacture of holographic foil 15 may be performed, for example, by American Banknote Holographies, Inc. (1448 County Line Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA, 19006 (USA)).

The holographic foil used as an example contains several layers. For a specialist it should be clear that the use of any order of placement, combinations and / or composition of these layers, with the achievement of a similar holographic effect, is within the scope of the claims of the present invention. In an exemplary embodiment, the structure of the transferred holographic foil comprises the following layers: a polyester carrier, thickness No. 90, a release coating, an embossing polymer layer, vacuum spraying aluminum, a binder coating, and a primer coating. During the transfer process, a polymer layer for embossing, vacuum-sprayed aluminum, a bonding layer and a primer layer are applied to the substrate.

In the exemplary embodiment used, the holographic foil sheets 15 are holograms obtained by transmitting an object beam with the interference of two or more focused beams of a 20-watt argon laser with a wavelength of 457.9 nm, namely, an object beam and a reference beam on a positive photoemulsion (plates coated in a centrifuge using Shiply's photoresist). In this system, an interference pattern arising from the interference of light beams is recorded using, for example, a 303A developer. The subject beam is a coherent beam reflected from the object, or passed through the object, which is subject to registration, and which is preferably a three-dimensional mirror. The reference beam, in a preferred embodiment, is a coherent, collimated beam of light with a spherical wavefront 10.

The introduction of a holographic foil 15 into the transaction card 5 makes it possible to more accurately determine the authenticity of the transaction card 5 in ordinary white light, namely by checking for the illusion of depth and color change. Moreover, in order to ensure that the hologram recorded on transaction card 5 can be viewed in ordinary white light, the recorded image should be placed at the surface of the substrate. Moreover, the hologram must be embossed on a metallized basis, for example, holographic foil 15, or, in another embodiment, the hologram can be applied directly to transparent plastic.

When forming a hologram on transparent plastic, the hologram becomes visible when applying a visible substance to the embossing of a hologram, for example, metal or paint. For more information on making holograms on payment cards 5 or making holographic foil 15, see U.S. Patent No. 4,684,795, issued August 4, 1987 to the United States Banknote Company of New York or the website of American Banknote Holographies, Inc. www.abnh.com, which are incorporated herein by reference.

In an exemplary embodiment, holographic foil is applied to vinyl credit cards by using metallized foil for credit cards. The foil is a metallized foil designed for stamping, resistant to chemical influences and abrasion for hot stamping of unlimited format on a polyester substrate with a thickness of No. 92 - 1.0 mils (25.4 microns). All samples of materials have a color of the supplier of raw materials with color code # 563 (blue). The foil has vacuum metallization with aluminum and an optical density in the range from 1.6 to 2.0. In the optimal case, the foil does not have visible defects and impurities. The separation parameters of the foil layers are determined by a force of 0-7 g, according to the verification of separation on a machine having a stamp surface temperature of 300 ° F (148.9 ° C), a pressure of 80 psi (552 kPa), a holding time of 1.0 s, 0.1 with a delay in separating the substrate at an angle of 45 °. On the samples of the base material, it is possible to create with high accuracy (at least 70% diffraction efficiency, if we take the diffraction efficiency of the embossing stamp for 100%), the surface imprints of the holographic image by stamping with hard nickel at a pressure of about 1,600 psi (285.7 kg / cm2) and approximately 100 pounds (45.4 kg) of air pressure and a stamp temperature in the range 200-350 ° F (93.3-176.7 ° C). When testing the embossing parameters of the base material, the primary and secondary images were tested to confirm the ability of the embossed coating to produce the optimal secondary image.

As for the mechanical and chemical resistance of the holographic foil, it withstands abrasive effects. After applying the foil to the vinyl credit card and stamping it, the transferred hologram passed about 100 test cycles at the Taber Abrader stand using CS-10 rollers and a load of about 500 g until there were signs of tearing. The abrasion resistance of the foil allows it to withstand about 6 cycles of exposure on the Taber Abrader stand under the same conditions without any noticeable marks, scratches or clouding. The holographic foil also shows no signs of vinyl cracking in the hologram area when stamping on the “DC 50000” machine for applying a code, or the like. In addition, uncut foil embossed on a polyester substrate can be subjected to 15% stretching without cracking the base. Moreover, used as an example vinyl cards with hologram samples can withstand 15 minutes in an oven at a temperature of 110 ° C while maintaining image clarity. In addition, there are no traces on the hologram samples after 5 cycles of 8 hours at 0 ° C and 16 hours at 60 ° C.

Samples of holograms on vinyl cards also withstand the effects of plasticizers, alkalis, acids and solvents. In particular, cards with holograms can withstand immersion in warm liquid plasticizers (usually dioctyl phthalate) until the card swells noticeably. The image on the card is not significantly affected by contact with plasticized vinyl for 5 days at a temperature of 60 ° C. As for alkalis, the hologram on the card can withstand without damage about 1 hour immersion in a 10% solution of caustic ammonia at room temperature. Moreover, the hologram imperceptibly traces of damage after 50 hours of exposure to artificial alkaline dew (10% sodium chloride, 1% sodium phosphate, 4% ammonium carbonate at pH 8.0). Regarding the effect of acids, the hologram samples on the cards can withstand immersion for about 1 hour in a 10% solution of acetic acid at room temperature without noticeable damage. Moreover, hologram samples withstand artificially condensed acetic acid (10% sodium chloride, 1% sodium phosphate, 1% lactic acid at pH 3.5) at room temperature for 50 hours without noticeable damage.

With regard to resistance to solvents, the hologram samples on the cards well withstand the following effects: ethylene glycol (100% and 50% aqueous solutions) for 4 hours at room temperature without noticeable signs, methyl ethyl ketone for 1 min at room temperature without noticeable effect, toluene without noticeable damage until the card swells (30 min at room temperature). Water does not have a noticeable effect when kept for 16 hours at 60 ° C, and concentrated detergent has no effect when kept for 20 hours at room temperature.

Moreover, on hologram samples on vinyl cards, there are no significant traces of exposure after washing and drying in industrial washing and drying machines when trousers are in your pocket under constant extraction conditions.

The backing of a payment card consists of a vinyl base or other similar material suitable for hot stamping of holograms without significant violation of the structure of the hologram or its coatings. When attaching a hologram to a vinyl card, the coating shows constant gloss, color uniformity and viscosity, and is free from contamination. The strength of hologram attachment to the card is also quite high, and the Scotch 610 film adhered to the hologram peels off at an angle of 45 ° without removing a noticeable part of the foil from the substrate.

The brightness of the image allows the diffraction pattern to be read at a minimum power value of about 2 μW at the alignment marks. Moreover, the image quality is characterized by the practical absence of defects, for example, large spots, scratches, wrinkles, ripples, cloudiness and / or other defects that significantly distort the image.

Finished samples are cut into rolls with a width of 1-53 / 64 "± 1/64" (46.4 ± 0.4 mm) and a length of 10,000 images per roll. The alignment mark is located no further than approximately 5/64 "(2.0 mm) from the edge of the cut material. Finished rolls are wound with the metal side inward onto the drums with an internal winding diameter of 3 inches (76.2 mm) and the number of glues per full roll no more than 3. Alignment marks are squares measuring 0.125 "× 0.125" (3.175 × 3.175 mm).

After embossing on individual cards 5 and attaching the holographic foil, an integrated circuit (IC) chip 20 is attached to the card 5 (step 195) in any suitable way, for example, by gluing, heating, using adhesive tape, installing it in a groove and / or other similar way. In particular, a small area on the front side 10 of the card 5 is cut out, for example, by milling. When milling, approximately 0.02 mil (0.508 μm) is removed from the surface of the front side 10, therefore, the cut hole cuts through two carrier layers of plastic, but does not pass through the last outer laminating layer of plastic, forming a nest under 5235HST. The IC chip 20 is an IC 5235 coated with palladium and silver, instead of the usual gold coating. Chip 20 IP is installed in the card using the so-called pouring technology. Any suitable binder is placed in the hole made, for example, a non-conductive binder, on which the IC chip 20 is applied so that the top surface of the IC chip 20 is approximately flush with the surface of the front side 10 of card 5. To fix the IC chip 20 in the card 5 to IC chip 20 is applied with the necessary pressure and heat. The IC chip 20 is any suitable integrated circuit located anywhere on card 5. In the exemplary embodiment, the structure, structure, functions, and location of the IC chip 20 are in accordance with ISO standards for IC chips 20 and smart cards 5. Chip 20 IP can be obtained, for example, in the company Siemens (Germany).

In a preferred embodiment, after attaching the holographic foil 15 and the IC chip 20 to the card 5, certain information is recorded on the card 5, for example, account number 35 and the date "valid until ..." 32 (not shown) by embossing (step 200) by any in a known way of stamping. Embossing can be done, for example, by Oberthur Card Systems. Although any information can be embossed anywhere on card 5, in a particular embodiment, account numbers 35 are embossed on holographic foil 15 to reduce the possibility of transferring the holographic foil 15 to a fake card 5 for fraudulent use. In addition, although well-known cards 5 indicate the beginning and end of the validity period, in this card 5 there is only the date "valid until ..." 32, namely the expiration date of the card.

Although the manufacturing option for making card 5 has been described as an example, it should be understood by a person skilled in the art that any suitable method for applying text 30, 32, 34, logo 50, embossed numbers 35, magnetic strip 42, signature field 45, holographic foil to the substrate 15, the IC chip 20 and the optical wedge 25 (see FIGS. 1 and 2) are within the scope of the present invention. In particular, holographic foil 15, IC chip 20, logo 50, magnetic strip 40, signature field 45, or any combination may be attached to any part of card 5 by any suitable means, for example, using heat, pressure, a binder composition, and / or any combination thereof.

The present invention is described above with an exemplary embodiment. However, those skilled in the art should understand that in the exemplary embodiment, changes and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, various steps of the invention may be omitted without changing the effectiveness of the invention. Moreover, other card making, coding and printing methods can be used, for example, evaporation reverse transfer technology and / or double transfer technology developed by Dai Nippon Printing Company of Japan. It is implied that these and other changes and modifications are within the scope of the claims of the present invention defined by the following formula.

Claims (11)

1. Card for financial transactions, mainly transparent to visible light, containing at least one translucent and / or transparent surface of the card and a machine-readable structure containing material having the property of not transmitting infrared light and mainly transmitting visible light, characterized in that a machine-readable structure is distributed over the indicated surface with the possibility of activating the sensor regardless of the position of the surface of the card with which it interacts. 2. The card according to claim 1, characterized in that said card refers to at least one of the following cards: identification card, smart card, credit card, payment card, debit card, access card, card for storing information, card for e-commerce document, credit card and securities. 3. The card according to claim 1, characterized in that said machine-readable structure contains at least one of the following components: chemical compound, dye, laminate, pigment, encapsulated pigment, coating, film, thread, plastic, paint, concentrate, thermoplastic base, fiber, paper and plate. 4. The card according to claim 1, characterized in that the said machine-readable structure contains at least one of the following components: invisible, visible and colored. 5. Card according to claim 1, characterized in that said machine-readable structure comprises an optically readable component. 6. The card according to claim 5, characterized in that the said optically readable component contains infrared ink. 7. The card according to claim 1, characterized in that the said machine-readable structure contains infrared paint having 0.001 to 40.0 wt.% Activated by infrared radiation substances. 8. The card according to claim 1, characterized in that the said machine-readable structure has at least one of the characteristics: retention, scattering, reflection, refraction and absorption of infrared radiation. 9. The card according to claim 1, characterized in that said machine-readable structure contains at least one of the following components: a binder, an ultraviolet absorber, a reflector, an antioxidant, a fluorescent brightener, a color converter, and a chemical substance for controlling the flow properties. Priority on points: 09/07/1999 according to claims 1, 4-6, 8; 10.20.1999 according to claims 2, 3, 7, 9.

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