GB2623990A

GB2623990A - Gift card

Info

Publication number: GB2623990A
Application number: GB2216328.1A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Lycett Graham
Original assignee: Jellyfish Livewire Ltd
Current assignee: Jellyfish Livewire Ltd
Priority date: 2022-11-02
Filing date: 2022-11-02
Publication date: 2024-05-08
Also published as: GB202216328D0

Abstract

A gift card 100 comprises a card substrate 200, a surface printed code 210 defined on the card substrate, and a foil layer 220 provided on the substrate over the surface printed code. The foil layer bears a relief pattern 225 to obscure the underlying code. In this way, the surface printed code, which can be expected to be slightly raised with respect to the card substrate, cannot be discerned due to the relief patterns (relatively raised and lowered regions of the foil layer) which overlay the surface printed code. The foil layer may be a scratch off layer. The relief pattern may be textured. The foil layer may be a holographic scratch-off foil and may comprise aluminium.

Description

Gift Card

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a gift card, and to a method of manufacturing a gift card. Embodiments of the invention relate to a gift card bearing a confidential printed code which cannot be revealed without permanently and visually damaging the gift card.

Background

Gift cards are becoming increasingly popular. Traditionally these have been made of plastic, and bear one or more unique printed codes (variable data). More recently, there is a trend towards more environmentally friendly materials for gift cards, in particular paperboard. The unique variable data on the reverse of the card is what makes the card valuable. The cards are POSA (Point Of Sale Activated), meaning they have no value until activated at a till point in store. The till scans a magnetic stripe or barcode, which submits a request to the processor (where the data is held) to ensure it is a legitimate request. At this point, the card is made 'live' and the value loaded. This makes the cards equivalent to cash. The gift card may also bear a PIN (personal identification number), which may be obscured with a self-adhesive scratch-off label which can be removed by the user (following the card being made "live") to gain access to the value of the gift card.

It will therefore be appreciated that the PIN is valuable, and organised crime has used gift cards for years to launder money or simply steal the value for online purchases by obtaining the PINs from the cards. It is difficult to calculate the financial impact of this problem, but it is of the order of hundreds of thousands of pounds in the UK alone. The standard security label is made up of three main elements, these being glue, acetate and a latex layer. The label is affixed to the card covering the PIN (glue-side bonds to card). The PIN is revealed by scratching off the latex. Fraudsters tend to steal the cards as singles or in bulk from stores/supply chain and either heat up the label making it easier to lift, or they scratch off the 1.

label cleanly (because of the acetate underneath) to reveal the PIN. They then record the PIN, reapply the label or buy replacement labels online (the labels tend to be quite generic) and simply place them over the PIN area -resulting in no visible sign of tampering. They then get the cards back into the store and simply wait for someone to purchase them (thus activating them and making the "live"). In particular, the fraudsters use algorithms to poll to the brand's website until they find the card number -this allows them to intercept the value before the consumer gets the chance to spend the money.

One current industry solution to this problem is to use an extra outer envelope in which the gift card is placed. This means the outer gets destroyed when the card is removed. This solution adds significant cost and uses much more material, and may offer a less streamlined experience for the end recipient.

The present invention seeks to offer an alternative solution which makes it difficult or impossible for fraudsters to tamper with the cards without leaving a visible trace, without requiring the use of an outer package.

Summary of the Invention

Various aspects and features of the present invention are defined in the claims.

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a gift card, comprising a card substrate; a surface printed code defined on the card substrate; and a foil layer provided on the substrate over the surface printed code; wherein the foil layer bears a relief pattern to obscure the underlying code.

In this way, the surface printed code, which can be expected to be slightly raised with respect to the card substrate, cannot be discerned due to the relief patterns (relatively raised and lowered regions of the foil layer, and optionally the surrounding layers and the card itself) which overlay (and generally interact with) the surface printed code.

The surface printed code may have a thickness which is greater than a thickness of the foil layer. In this case it is clear that the characters of the printed code will be visible through the foil layer (in the absence of the relief pattern). In other cases, the surface printed code may have a thickness which is approximately equal to or less than the thickness of the foil layer, but which is still thick enough that faint ridges would be visible through the foil. The present technique makes it possible to utilise a think material to overlay the surface printed code, without compromising the security of the surface printed code.

With the present technique, a surface of the gift card is provided with a relief pattern in the vicinity of the surface printed code (for example across the region of the card substrate upon which the foil layer is disposed) to obscure the shape of the surface printed code. The relief pattern is defined in at least the foil layer, but in practice may additionally be formed in an uppermost part of the card substrate, and any intervening layers between the card substrate and the foil layer (including for example the printed code where it intersects with the relief pattern, and an adhesive and/or ink layer between the foil layer and the substrate). It will therefore be appreciated that the relief pattern may extend through each of the foil layer, the adhesive layer, the printed code where it coincides with the relief pattern, and an upper region of the card substrate.

Preferably, the foil layer, or an opaque substance or layer provided on the foil layer, can be scratched off. In this way the surface printed code can be revealed by a user. However, this effectively damages the foil layer in a visually perceptible and irreversible way, meaning that signs of tampering are evident and can be detected before sale/use of the gift card by an authorised individual.

Preferably, the foil layer is adhered to the card substrate. For example, an adhesive layer may be provided, disposed between the foil layer and the card substrate, and wherein the relief pattern is defined in both the foil layer and the adhesive layer. The adhesive layer may be opaque -for example impregnated with dark (preferably black) ink. This may be scratched off along with the foil to expose the printed code beneath. Due to the fragile nature of the foil layer, its removal (without causing damage) is difficult or impossible. It will further be appreciated that the foil layer, particularly with an applied relief pattern, is far more difficult to copy than a simple adhesive sticker, and so complete removal of the original foil layer and replacement with a duplicate can be expected to be difficult for a fraudster to achieve.

In some cases the relief pattern may simply be a texture. Preferably though, the relief pattern comprises one or more images and/or symbols and/or alphanumeric characters which define relatively raised areas or which define relatively lower areas. The pattern may be specifically designed to maximise its effect in obscuring the underlying surface printed code, or may bear useful or brand-relevant material.

More generally, the foil layer (and potentially the other layers, such as the adhesive layer, and the upper part of the card substrate) is patterned with raised and lowered areas.

The surface printed code may be a raised code, preferably formed of printed ink. In particular, the ink may be deposited only in the shape of the code, and the ink may therefore stand proud of the card substrate. The (raised) surface printed code may extend approximately 10 microns above the surface of the card substrate. It will be appreciated that different thicknesses of ink could be used, for example in the range of 5 to 10 microns. Thicker inks, for example in the range of 10 to 20 microns could also be obscured using the present technique.

The foil layer may be a holographic scratch-off foil. The foil layer may comprise aluminium, and in some examples may be delivered to the gift card on a polyester carrier layer.

The foil layer may have a thickness of 4 microns when removed from the polyester carrier layer used to transfer the foil from the reel to the substrate surface. The process of hot stamping the foil to the surface on the material may indent the surface by 3 -4 microns depending on the pressure of the stamping wheel. It will be appreciated that different thicknesses of foil could be used, and that the present technique will be beneficial for any thickness of foil insufficient to fully disguise the printed code beneath.

In practice, when the foil layer is selectively compressed by the patterned surface of the stamping wheel, the underlying layers such as the adhesive layer and the upper portion of the substrate itself are also compressed. This causes lateral displacement of some of the compressed material into regions which are not being compressed (voids in the stamping wheel). Accordingly, the stamping process results not only in "troughs" in the surface of the gift card (which may be slightly below the base surface level of the card substrate), but also "peaks" in the surface of the gift card, which may be slightly elevated above the base surface level of the card substrate. The voids in the stamping wheel may for example have a depth of 0.3mm, this representing an upper limit on a height of the peaks relative to the depth of the troughs in the relief pattern applied by the stamping wheel. In practice, dependent on the pressure applied, the peaks may extend only a portion of the way into the depths of the voids in the stamping wheel, resulting in much smaller peaks than this.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a gift card, comprising the steps of: (a) applying a surface printed code on a card substrate; (b) applying a foil layer to the card substrate over the surface printed code; and (c) applying a relief pattern to the foil layer.

Preferably, the step of applying the foil layer to the card substrate is carried out before the relief pattern is applied to the foil layer. That is, preferably the relief pattern is applied to the foil layer when it is in situ on the card substrate.

The method may further comprise cutting the card substrate to form individual gift cards.

One or more the steps of applying the raised surface printed code, applying the foil layer and applying the relief pattern may be carried out on the individual gift cards formed from the substrate. Alternatively, all of these steps may be carried out on the card substrate before it is cut to form the individual gift cards.

Preferably, the foil layer is applied at a temperature of approximately 125 °C. This temperature serves to melt/activate the adhesive layer to bond the foil to the card. It also ensures the foil is released from the polyester carrier and adheres to the surface of the substrate. The carrier layer is removed subsequently during the application process, automatically and is wound onto a reel for recycling.

Preferably, the relief pattern is applied using a pressure of approximately 7 bar applied to the foil layer. This pressure has been found to provide a sufficiently pronounced relief pattern to obscure the underlying code, without causing a relief pattern on the reverse of the gift card (which would be aesthetically undesirable). The relief pattern formed in the gift card, from peak to trough, may for example be in the range of 0.01 to 0.3mm, and preferably less than 0.1mm. The most appropriate thickness is dependent on several factors including the thickness of the gift card, the thickness of the printed code, and the thickness of the foil layer.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings where like parts are provided with corresponding reference numerals and in which: Figure 1 schematically illustrates a gift card, and its component parts, according to an embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 schematically illustrates the layered structure of the gift card, code and foil layer, and demonstrates how the relief pattern of the foil layer disguises the underlying code; Figure 3 schematically illustrates the apparatus used to apply the foil layer, and stamp it with the relief pattern; Figure 4 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating the manufacturing method as a whole; and Figure 5 schematically illustrates the layer structure of the foil layer.

Detailed Description

Lottery tickets provide their own secure solution to cover unique codes. However, it is technically challenging to apply this style of scratch-off panel to a standard gift card format, due to the equipment used being quite different, and the process of laying the latex panel being different.

Gift cards tend to use a scratch off labels made up of an adhesive, a clear acetate layer and latex applied to the surface of the acetate -this is the premise of the weakness in this solution. The latex layer can be cleanly scratched off leaving no residual effects. These can then be covered again with the labels -in contrast, the present technique makes a mess when removed, and thus is tamper proof. With the present technique, instead of latex being screen printed to the card, a more environmentally friendly alternative is provided -a holographic scratch-off foil. This foil is a very thin film made of aluminium that includes a black ink coating that can stretch and be scratched off to reveal the PIN underneath. More specifically, prior to being delivered onto the card substrate, the aluminium foil is provided on a polyester carrier layer. This is returned as an SRF (high quality recyclable material -used as an energy source) once the foil has adhered to the card. The foil as provided on the gift card is vacuum metalized aluminium foil, with black ink incorporated into an adhesive base layer. The base layer and aluminium layers are hot stamped onto the card substrate. The black ink element has slight latex qualities that allow it to be scratched off by a coin as a whole. The adhesive layer is impregnated with the ink, so is combined together when this last coating layer is applied in the manufacture of the stamping foil.

The unique code is inkjet drop-on-demand (DoD) printed onto the paperboard (card substrate). The inkjet DoD is an ink that sits on top of the paperboard and is very slightly raised (by approximately 10 microns). This causes no problems when obscured with a standard adhesive label, since the label is quite thick and hides the underlying PIN. However, with the present technique the foil layer is so thin (approximately 4 microns) that the outline shape of the DoD can be seen under the foil. To overcome this, the present technique adds a textured, or relief, effect to raise/lower selected areas of the foil (and other layers and/or the upper part of the substrate itself) compared with other areas to obscure the visibility under the foil, therefore rendering the PIN unreadable.

Figure 1 schematically illustrates a gift card 100 formed by and embodying the present technique. The gift card 100 comprises a card substrate 200, upon which is provided a (raised) surface printed code 210, and above which is provided a foil layer 220 which is adhered to the card substrate 200. The foil layer 220 is stamped with a relief pattern (represented by 225 in Figure 1). The card substrate 200 is formed of paperboard, or any card or paper based material. The printed code 210 is formed of ink which is surface printed onto the card substrate 200. The foil layer 220 is a holographic foil with an additional textured relief pattern (for example bearing a brand). Various patterns could be used, such as images and/or symbols and/or alphanumeric characters which define relatively raised areas or which define relatively lower areas. The foil layer 220 may actually comprise two layers (not shown), these being a base layer formed of an adhesive, optionally impregnated with ink, and an aluminium layer. The base layer serves to adhere the foil layer 220 as a whole, and the aluminium layer specifically, to the card substrate 200. The relief pattern is in this case defined in both the aluminium layer and the base layer of the foil layer 220. In practice, the relief pattern may also involve the deformation of the card substrate 200.

Figure 5 shows the foil layer 220, comprised of a base (adhesive) layer 220a and an aluminium layer 220b, disposed on the substrate 200. The code 210 is omitted from Figure 5 in the interests of clarity, but it will be appreciated that this would be disposed between the substrate 200 and the base layer 220a of the foil layer 220.

The foil layer 220 in combination with the relief pattern 225 formed in at least the foil layer 220 obscures the code 210. This solution is substantially tamper-proof -the foil layer cannot readily be lifted up or cleanly scratched off and leaves obvious signs of being scratched. Due to the use of a holographic film with a specific relief pattern, it would be incredibly difficult to create labels that could be stuck over the panel and look the same. This makes the present solution more cost-effective than the wrapped product, adds authenticity, and is more environmentally friendly.

Figures 2A to 2D shown how the layers of the card substrate are built up. Figure 2A shows a cross section through the card substrate 200. This may have some (non-confidential) information printed on it (not shown), but the code to be protected is not yet on the substrate 200. Figure 2B shows a cross section through the card substrate 200, with a confidential code 210 surface printed onto the face of the card substrate 200. It can be seen that the surface printed code 210 is slightly raised with respect to the card substrate 200. Since the code 210 is inkjet printed using dropon-demand, the characters (letters, numbers and symbols) making up the code will be visibly raised. Figure 2C shows a cross section through the card substrate 200, with a foil layer 220 disposed over the card substrate 200 in the vicinity of the surface printed code 210. It can be seen from Figure 2C that the raised nature of the surface printed code 210 results in slight bumps/elevations in the top surface of the foil layer 220. These may be sufficiently discernible for the (characters of the) underlying surface printed code 210 to be read. Figure 2D shows a cross section through the card substate 200 with the foil layer 220 (which as noted above may itself comprise an aluminum layer and an adhesive base layer) stamped with a relief pattern. It can be seen that the relief pattern disrupts the surface of the foil layer 220 sufficiently that it is difficult or impossible to discern the underlying surface printed code 210. It will be appreciated that the schematic view of Figure 20 is a simplification -in practice the stamping of the foil layer 220 will result in indentations of different depths and widths, as well as raised portions at the edges of indentations. This means that the obscuring effect in practice is greater than apparent from Figure 2D.

Referring to Figure 3, a top wheel 310 and a lower anvil 320 of a rotary foiling line apparatus 300 used to form the gift cards described above are shown. The gift card with the printed code (which has been printed on the gift cards using DoD printing in a conventional manner) passes between the top wheel 310 and the anvil 320, along with the foil layer (as a continuous strip, disposed on a carrier layer), and the foil layer strip is pressed onto the card as the foil layer and substrate pass together between the top wheel 310 and the lower anvil 320. This gift card (at least in the vicinity of the foil layer) is heated to a temperature of approximately 125 °C to activate the adhesive of the foil layer to become permanently bonded to the card substrate. The carrier layer of the foil strip is peeled away. The apparatus of Figure 3 may then be used a second time, but with the top wheel 310 being switched for a stamped/engraved wheel. In this case, the embossed/engraved wheel 310 rotates as the card (already bearing the adhered foil layer) passes between it and the lower anvil 320, and applies pressure to the foil layer to compress portions thereof (and the underlying substrate) to form the desired relief pattern (3D texture) in at least the foil layer. Preferably, two sets of the apparatus shown in Figure 3 are provided inline with each other, the first of which has a smooth top wheel for applying the aluminium foil, the second of which has the engraved top wheel for applying the relief pattern onto the foil layer. The gift cards may travel from the first of these apparatuses to and through the second of these apparatuses.

The raised parts of the (stamped) foil layer are those parts not compressed by the engraved wheel, and the non-raised parts are those parts compressed by the engraved wheel. In practice, an adhesive layer of the foil layer (or in the alternative between the foil layer and the substrate), and the underlying substrate itself, may also be compressed. Furthermore, the compression of the material of the foil layer, adhesive layer and substrate can be expected to cause displacement of these materials up into voids within the shaped engraved wheel, leading to ridges being formed.

In one example, the foil layer 220 is provided initially as a multi-layer structure of (a) a carrier layer, (b) a wax release layer, (c) an aluminium layer (vacuum metallised) and (d) an adhesive layer made opaque with the presence of (black) ink. In use, the multi-layer structure is laid down on the gift card on the first passage through the apparatus of Figure 3. Then, the carrier layer is removed (aided by the wax release layer). It is the remaining layers of the foil layer 220 which are then subject to second passage through the apparatus of Figure 3 (with the engraved wheel), to form the relief pattern.

In an illustrative embodiment, the ink of the printed PIN may be raised at a height of approximately 10 microns above the surface of the card substrate 200. The foil may have a thickness of approximately 4 microns (once the foil is transferred onto the card). This is a relatively heavy foil, with a total coating weight of about 3.5-4.0 grams per sq. meter, not including the film carrier. The black is part of the adhesive, which by itself is about 2.5 gsm. When the stamping wheel compresses the foil against the substrate, it is assumed the surface printed ink is compressed by a few microns. The ink printed and foil combined together will have a thickness of approximately 4 -5 microns in addition to the raised texture applied by the metal stamping die face. The stamping wheel presses the foil and substrate down to allow the raised areas to stand proud of the foil.

As mentioned above, the carrier layer is removed after the foil is applied to the card. In particular, the application of heat and pressure adheres the black adhesive layer to the card, following which the carrier layer can be removed by virtue of the wax coating, which permits release from the aluminium layer beneath. The relief pattern may be stamped into the aluminium layer either after the carrier layer has been removed, or through the carrier layer and before the carrier layer is removed.

Referring to Figure 4, an example method of manufacturing a gift card is described. At a step Si, a card substrate is provided. This may be in the form of a large sheet of paperboard sized to provide a substrate for a plurality of gift cards. At a step S2, the card substrate is printed with the non-confidential (common, not unique) material, such as graphics, brand information, and instructions for use. This printed material is printed onto discrete portions of the paperboard intended to form the individual gift cards. The cards are made into singles before the variable data is applied and are printed using lithography. Digitally printed cards have the variable data applied during the sheet printing process. At a step S3, the card substrate is cut into individual gift cards. At a step S4, the individual gift cards are each printed with the unique information, including the PIN using DoD surface printing. At a step 55, a foil layer is applied to the card substrate over the surface printed code. This is achieved using the apparatus shown in Figure 3, with the result that the foil layer is smoothly laid down on, and adhered to, the card substrate. The foil layer is applied at a temperature of approximately 125 °C, which activates the adhesive to bond the foil layer to the substrate. At a step 56, a relief pattern is applied to the foil layer (at least), while the foil layer is in situ on (and adhered to) the card substrate. The is also achieved using the apparatus shown in Figure 3, but with an embossed (patterned) wheel bearing the desired relief pattern, rather than a smooth wheel as is used for the step S5. The relief pattern is applied using a pressure of approximately 7 bar applied to the foil layer, this being sufficient to compress the foil by an amount required to disguise the underlying printed code.

Claims

Claims 1. A gift card, comprising a card substrate; a surface printed code defined on the card substrate; and a foil layer provided on the substrate over the surface printed code; wherein the foil layer bears a relief pattern to obscure the underlying code.
2 The gift card according to claim 1, wherein the foil layer, or an opaque substance or layer provided on the foil layer, can be scratched off.
3. The gift card according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the foil layer is adhered to the card substrate.
4. The gift card according to claim 3, comprising an adhesive layer disposed between the foil layer and the card substrate, and wherein the relief pattern is defined in both the foil layer and the adhesive layer.
5. The gift card according to any preceding claim, wherein the relief pattern is a texture.
6 The gift card according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the relief pattern comprises one or more images and/or symbols and/or alphanumeric characters which define relatively raised areas or which define relatively lower areas.
7. The gift card according to any preceding claim, wherein the foil layer is patterned with raised and lowered areas.
8. The gift card according to any preceding claim, wherein the surface printed code is raised, and formed of printed ink.
9. The gift card according to any preceding claim, wherein the foil layer is a holographic scratch-off foil.
10. The gift card according to any preceding claim, wherein the foil layer comprises aluminium.
11.A method of manufacturing a gift card, comprising the steps of: (a) applying a surface printed code on a card substrate; (b) applying a foil layer to the card substrate over the surface printed code; and (c) applying a relief pattern to the foil layer.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of applying the foil layer to the card substrate is carried out before the relief pattern is applied to the foil layer.
13. The method of claim 11 or claim 12, further comprising cutting the card substrate to form individual gift cards.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein one or more the steps of applying the surface printed code, applying the foil layer and applying the relief pattern are carried out on the individual gift cards formed from the substrate.
15. The method of any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein the foil layer is applied at a temperature of approximately 125 °C.
16. The method of any one of claims 11 to 15, wherein the relief pattern is applied using a pressure of approximately 7 bar applied to the foil layer.