EP0011684B1 - Identification card - Google Patents

Abstract

The application discloses an identity card consisting of a plurality of layers, of which the cover layers are highly transparent films and the layers of the card core are films of moderate to low transparency, as a result of added pigment. One core layer carries information, which can be read directly, if desired, above a security print, while the other core layer has an additional security marking, such as a guilloche print, a marking which can be read optically only with the aid of a special lamp, or a piece of magnetic tape. All the layers consist of polymers which can be fused together to form a laminate which is fused together like a monolithic block and which does not have any interfaces which allow a mechanical, thermal or chemical separation.

Description

The invention relates to an identification card of several layers, which consists of thermally fusible polymers with the identification of the cardholder information at a suitable point and with additional security features, such as guilloche figures, against counterfeiting.

Such an identification card is known from US-A-3068140, which has a folded card core, the front and back of which are printed with directly readable information. Such cards are used as information or data carriers for identification cards, check cards, credit cards, ID cards, passports and other identification carriers which must be tamper-proof and easy to check for authenticity.

Such identification cards are increasingly being produced as a fused composite, in which a card core carrying the information is protected by other transparent foils. DE-OS 2308876, for example, relates to an identification card made of a relatively thick carrier film and a thin transparent film, between which there is a special paper with anti-counterfeiting, thickness differences in the paper, such as watermarks, banknote printing or the like, the three layers are plasticized with one another in such a way that the inclusions can be determined manually, mechanically and / or visually through the transparent film. Further features serving to identify the cardholder are provided at a suitable location in this known identification card. When plasticizing, for example, a photo in the form of a film slide is inserted between the special paper and the carrier film and firmly connected to the special paper. Furthermore, a security-printed special paper strip can be laminated onto the outside of the plastic material as a field for subsequent signatures or other handwritten entries at any point on the front or back of the identification card.

Paper has the advantage that many latent security features, such as watermarks, banknote printing, security threads and the like. Like., Can be contained in it, whereas the all-plastic material used for the production of plastic cards contains no such authenticity or security features. When connected to paper cores it is unfortunately disadvantageous that they are relatively easy to open and thus manipulations and counterfeits of all kinds are accessible.

From DE-AS 2163943 a personal identification card is known, which is a combination of a layer support, an electrically conductive layer, a barrier layer, a photoconductive layer with an organic photoconductor - optionally a cover layer -, a protective layer on the photoconductive layer or on the cover layer, one Protective layer on the back of the support and optionally a cover layer on the latter protective layer. With this personal identification card, a number of different materials are combined to form a composite, which can be resolved due to the lack of homogeneity of the individual layers, so that counterfeits can be made.

The object of the invention is to create an identification card from a combination of layers which resist attempting to separate it into individual layers and thus counterfeiting the information and security features attached to the layers.

This object is achieved in that the information is attached to a core layer and the security features are attached to a further core layer and that these core layers have a fixed, mutual spatial association.

In an embodiment of the invention, the card core is composed of at least two layers, of which one core layer contains the information directly used for identification, such as name, photograph, personnel number on its side facing the cover layer and the other core layer additional latent security features on its one core layer Side carries.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the card core consists of three layers, of which the transparent intermediate layer, which carries security features on both sides, is bordered on at least one side by one of the matted layers. The intermediate layer made of a fusible polymer based on polyvinyl chloride is provided with latent security features that are spaced apart from one another by the thickness of the intermediate layer.

It is also possible that the cover layers are provided with security features and that the security features, arranged between the card core and the cover layers, are arranged in a predetermined spatial arrangement with the security features in the card core. To increase the security against counterfeiting, the information and security features are different colors.

It is obvious that the attempt to separate an identification card, in which the card core and the upper and lower cover layers consist of polymers thermally fused together, for the purpose of falsifying the information present between the layers, we is impossible due to the homogeneity of the individual material layers.

• Fig. 1 in Explosionsdarstellung eine Identifikationskarte mit schematisch angedeuteten Informationen und einem Sicherungsmerkmal,
• Fig. 2 eine Schnittansicht der Identifikationskarte nach Fig. 1,
• Fig. eine perspektivische Teilansicht einer weiteren Ausführungsform einer Identifikationskarte und
• Fig.4 eine Schnittansicht der Identifikationskarte nach Fig. 3.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to two exemplary embodiments shown in the drawings. It shows

• 1 is an exploded view of an identification card with schematically indicated information and a security feature,
• 2 is a sectional view of the identification card of FIG. 1,
• Fig. A partial perspective view of another embodiment of an identification card and
• 4 shows a sectional view of the identification card according to FIG. 3.

A structure of an identification card is shown in Fig. 1. The cover layers 1 and 2 made of highly transparent films enclose a card core and consist of fusible polymers, for example polyamides, polyvinyl chloride or the like. The card core comprises two layers 3 and 4 of medium to weak transparency. These are also films made of fusible polymers. Layers 3 and 4 are colored matt, preferably white, by adding pigment. Layer 3 bears directly readable information 5, such as the name, personnel number and photo of the cardholder, which may be applied via security printing. At least one layer, layer 4 in FIG. 1, carries an additional latent security feature 6, which is indicated by an X in FIG. 1. The layer 4 can also be printed on the outer side facing the cover layer 2. The additional security feature 6 can be, for example, a magnetic tape, but an optically recognizable security feature is preferred because of the easy check that can be carried out without a lot of aids. So it can be an unchangeable, usually difficult to imitate feature, for example a guilloche print or a symbol like a heraldic animal. The feature can be applied by printing or a photocopying process and can also contain individual information, for example a consecutive number or a second picture of the cardholder.

The term “optical” security feature should also include all embodiments in which materials are used for the production of the security feature 6 that fluoresce only when irradiated by ultraviolet light or that absorb only in ultraviolet or infrared light and are therefore not recognizable in the visible range . These internal security features are in purely visual map viewing in reflected light, e.g. B. to determine the personal details, not visible. A lamp which emits ultraviolet or infrared radiation is then the only auxiliary means required for testing such security features, so that the security feature can be recognized when the identification card is illuminated with such a lamp.

The cover layers 1, 2 and layers 3, 4 of the card core offer, after lamination, under a pressure of 9.8 to 20 bar (10-20 Kp / cm ² ) at elevated temperatures of 353 ° to 452 ⁰ K (80-1800 C) a composite fused as a block, which has no intermediate surfaces which favor separation. The security feature 6, for example made of pigments, is then melted into the polymer mass of the composite.

Fig. Shows a cross section through this composite, whereby the hatching of the card core, which shows no boundary lines to the cover layers 1, 2, indicates that there is a composite of the matted layers without intermediate surfaces. To further increase security, the card core to be fused can have more than two layers that are highly transparent and can be provided with several latent security features on the inside.

The identification card 10 'shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 comprises a card core with an additional transparent intermediate layer 7 with latent security features 8 and 9. The transparent intermediate layer 7 made of a fusible polymer such as polyamide, polyvinyl chloride or the like is from the matted layers 3 and 4 bordered on both sides. The change of layer in the structure of the card core between matt and transparent layers has, in addition to the security arrangement, practical importance for the readability of security features 8 and 9. If the card core were completely matted, it would only have a transmission of a few, for example, with a thickness of 500 µm Percent, which would make it very difficult to read the latent security features. If, on the other hand, the card core consists of matt layers 3 and 4 of, for example, 100 J.lm thick and a transparent intermediate layer 7 of, for example, 80% transmittance at a thickness of 300 µm, the latent security features 8 and 9 introduced are easy to read . The legibility of small structures, for example in guilloche prints, increases as the outer matt layers 3 and 4 or the weaker pigmented outer layers 3 and 4 of the card core become thinner.

The construction of the card core from two or more layers offers, as a very sensitive security feature, the mutual spatial assignment of the various external and internal information or security features, as is briefly explained, for example, with reference to FIG. 3. If the security features 8 and 9 consist of congruently arranged guilloche figures, a forgery attempt on the identity card with the help of heat or solvents to separate the card assembly can be recognized immediately bar, as there is a complete or partial shift of the guilloche figures relative to each other, possibly as a moire pattern.

FIG. 3 shows a guilloche figure 9 that has been displaced in relation to the guilloche figure 8 by manipulations, the dotted line of the guilloche figure 9 characterizing its original position. For better differentiability, the information and the security pattern or security features can be of different colors.

The exact spatial allocation of information and security features in the card network with originally separated layers requires a sophisticated lamination technique with fitting devices such as dowel pins and fitting holes in the individual layers and thus represents a further safeguard against counterfeiting. The spatial allocation of two guilloche figures can also be done by double-sided , accurate print on the intermediate layer 7.

4 shows a cross section through the identification card 10 'according to FIG. 3, in which the matted layers 3 and 4 are hatched and the transparent intermediate layer 7 is shown without hatching.

The cover layers 1, 2 can additionally be provided with security features, of which the right security feature 11 is indicated in FIG. 4 by a dotted line which is interrupted by distances. The corresponding left security feature has been omitted for clarity. The security features 11 between the card core and the cover layers 1 and 2 are also mutually in a predetermined spatial arrangement and thereby result in increased security against counterfeiting.

Claims (6)

1. Identity card comprising several layers consisting of polymers which are fusible by heat to give a laminate, carrying, at a suitable point, information which serves to identify the card holder and having additional security markings, such as guilloche figures, as protection against forgeries, wherein the information (5; 5) are placed on one core layer (3) and the security markings (6; 8, 9) are placed on a further core layer (4; 7) and wherein these core layers are in a fixed mutual spatial correlation.

2. Identity card as claimed in claim 1, wherein the card core is composed of at least two layers (3, 4), of which one core layer (3) carries the information (5) which directly serves for identification, such as name, photograph, personal reference number, on its side directed to the cover layer (1) and the other core layer (4) carries additional latent security markings (6) on its side which is directed to the one core layer (3).

3. Identity card as claimed in claim 1, wherein the card core consists of three layers (3, 7, 4) of which the transparent interlayer (7) which carries security markings (8, 9) on both sides, is edged on at least one side by one of the mat layers (3, 4).

4. Identity card as claimed in claims 3, wherein the interlayer (7), consisting of a fusible polymer based on polyvinyl chloride, is provided with latent security markings (8, 9) which are at a distance form one another, which is equal to the thickness of the interlayer (7).

5. Identity card as claimed in one or more of claims 1 to 4, wherein the cover layers (1, 2) are provided with security markings (11) and the security markings (11), arranged between the card core and the cover layers (1, 2), are in a predetermined spatial arrangement to the security markings (8,9) in the card core.

6. Identity card in any of the claims 1 to 5, wherein the information (5) and the security markings (6, 8, 9) have different colors.

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