JP2003091713A - Ic card - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the security as a SIM (subscriber identity module) card by printing a specific information including a mechanically readable mark with an infrared ray absorbing material, besides the information visible by the visible ray of light by a sublimation-type retransfer printer. SOLUTION: In this IC card wherein an external device connecting terminal of an IC module is formed on the surface of a thermoplastic plastic thin plate, and the IC card holder-specific information is printed by a sublimation-type retransfer method on the surface of the IC card around the external device connecting terminal and/or on the rear side of the IC module, the holder-specific information is provided with the visible information visible in a visible ray of light area, and the invisible information visible in an infrared ray area and invisible in the visible ray of light area in a state that the invisible information is superposed on its outside.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a mobile phone, a PC.
The present invention relates to a small IC card called a SIM type card which is attached to a card or the like and used as an auxiliary memory or an ID.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, mobile communication terminals such as mobile phones and in-vehicle terminals have become widespread due to advances in telecommunications technology.
Many are used. In the case of mobile phones, a small IC card that stores registered phone numbers and information unique to the owner can be attached to the phone and connected to the mobile phone to pay the call charges of the mobile phone to the aforementioned registered phone. , Wirelessly communicates with related terminals and makes payment with money.
In fields other than mobile communication terminals, it is used as an authentication card by being installed in a PCMCIA card of a notebook personal computer to enhance security, or by being installed in a reader / writer of an IC card. The small I mentioned above
C card is SIM (Subscriber Iden)
A title module, UIM (User)
It is called an Identity Module) card.

The above SIM card and UIM card are
Since it is a small card with a long side of 25 mm and a short side of about 15 mm, when trying to print unique information, it is around the external device connection terminal (hereinafter referred to as the external terminal) or a narrow area on the back side where the IC module is mounted. Must be done. Normally, when trying to print unique information in the above area, it is difficult to achieve uniform printing with a printing method such as fusion type thermal transfer printing or sublimation type thermal transfer printing because the printing surface is not flat, and the life of the print head There was a problem of shortening.
Also, avoid hard thermal heads, laser printing,
When attempting to cope with this by inkjet printing, precision errors in distance occur due to unevenness, the printed characters, marks, etc. are distorted, and it has been difficult to maintain a constant print quality. On the other hand, in terms of security, although the IC chip itself has high security, there is a problem in that it is difficult to apply a forgery prevention means or the like by a printing technique applied to a normal card.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the present invention uses a sublimation type retransfer printer to print unique information including machine-readable marks and the like with an infrared absorbing material in addition to information visible with visible light. By SIM
It aims to further enhance security as a card.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 of the IC card of the present invention forms an IC module having an external device connection terminal on the surface of a thermoplastic thin plate. IC card that
Around the external device connection terminal and / or the IC
On the surface of the IC card on the back side of the module, the information unique to the IC card holder is printed by a sublimation retransfer method. The information unique to the holder is visible information visible in the visible light region and infrared information in the infrared region. It is characterized in that invisible information that is visible and invisible in the visible light region is formed.

The invention described in claim 2 is the same as claim 1
In the invention described in (3), the invisible information includes a pattern that can be identified by a reading device that uses infrared rays.

The invention described in claim 3 is the same as claim 1
In the invention according to any one of 1 to 2, the invisible information is
The security information is a part of security information stored in an IC chip mounted on the IC module.

The invention described in claim 4 is the same as claim 1
In the invention according to any one of 3 to 3, the IC card is
It is characterized by being a SIM card.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Referring to the drawings, I of the present invention will be described.
The C card will be described. In the following description of the embodiments, "printing" characters, symbols, etc. by a sublimation type retransfer method using a sublimation type thermal transfer film is referred to as "printing" to distinguish it from normal printing. Figure 1 shows a SIM
Figure showing the unique information of the card holder printed on the back side of the card, Figure 2 shows the figure showing the unique information of the card holder on the front side of the SIM card, and Figure 3 shows the card holder on the back side of the SIM card. A figure in which the unique information of
Figure 4 shows the IC card inserted into the IC card reader.
FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a state of reading and writing information on a chip, FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an example of a transfer film used for printing by a sublimation type thermal transfer system, and FIG.
Is a diagram for explaining an example of a transfer film used in a sublimation type retransfer system printer, FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 3, and FIG. 8 is a method of manufacturing a card by a stacking system. It is a figure for explaining.

In FIG. 1, a back side 50 on which an IC module of an IC card (hereinafter referred to as SIM card) 1 is mounted.
At (the part indicated by the broken line), a gap is formed between the recess formed in the card base and the mounted IC module, and heat is generated during the formation of the recess to expand the plastic. Some deformation remains. Uniform printing cannot be performed on such an uneven surface by a printing method in which the thermal head prints information (via a transfer film) by directly contacting the surface of the substrate, as in the sublimation type thermal transfer method. In response to the demand for reliable printing on such uneven surfaces, a sublimation type retransfer printer has appeared.
You can now print both image information and text information.
The sublimation retransfer printing method is a method in which the reverse image is printed once on the heat-resistant film and the reverse image is retransferred to the card surface, because the thermal head does not come into direct contact with the card substrate surface during printing. In addition, it is possible to print clearly even if the substrate portion is not smooth.

The embodiment of FIG. 2 shows a state in which the unique information of the card holder is printed on the external terminal surface of the SIM card. In the peripheral portion of the external terminal, a step is generated between the surface of the card base and the surface of the external terminal, and unevenness is formed, although slight. Even if the external terminal surface is set lower than the surface of the card substrate and printing can be performed with the thermal head, it is equivalent to the peripheral position of the external terminal of the IC module of the thermal head during repeated printing with the thermal head. When an image is printed on another surface, a scratch may occur at a position to be printed or the head may be worn, so that a portion of the image may be unclearly printed. Even if such a level difference occurs, the sublimation retransfer method does not cause the above problem. Therefore, in the past, there is a peripheral surface of the IC module of the card, which cannot be printed, especially in an external device. Printing is possible within 3 mm from the connection terminal, which is effective when printing on the external terminal surface of the SIM card.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, when printing the unique information of the owner, if visible information 2 visible in the visible light region and invisible information 3 visible in the infrared region are required. Print on top of each other to make the best use of the narrow SIM card surface. In the case of a credit card, the visible information 2 is a number corresponding to the membership number of the member, “0123 45
67 8901 2345 ”, a valid period indicating a usable period,“ 01 / 03-03 / 04 ”, and the name of a member who can be used as a credit card,“ Nippon Taro ”.

These pieces of information are the lower limit 360 to the visible light region.
Print with a thermal transfer material that is readable in the wavelength range of 400 nm and the upper limit of 760 to 830 nm. On the other hand, the invisible information 3 cannot be read in the visible light region,
Printing is performed with a heat-sensitive material that can be detected by light in the long wavelength region of 830 nm or more, preferably 950 nm or more. The visible information 2 is mainly printed with numbers, symbols, kana and kanji, and the invisible information 3 is mainly machine-readable barcodes and 2
Print with the dimension code. In addition, code security information such as facial photographs, fingerprints, signatures, etc., and print it,
It can also be read by a machine.

In FIG. 1, the visible information 2 and the invisible information 3 are
It is clear that there is no overlapping printed portion, but in the case of FIG. 3, part of the visible information 2 is invisible information 3
Also, the portion covered with the invisible information 3 can be seen in the visible light region by transmitting infrared rays and transmitting the infrared absorbing material. On the other hand, in the infrared region, the portion of the visible information 2 covered with the invisible information 3 is covered with the transparent infrared reflecting material under the visible light region, and therefore cannot be read by the infrared sensor. The layer structure of the infrared reflecting material and the infrared absorbing material will be described with reference to FIG. 7, which is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

The IC card reader / writer shown in FIG.
The IC card reader / writer 8 is a type that allows reading and writing of information without inserting the entire long side of the C card.
About half the long side of is inserted and information is read and written. Unlike a magnetic card, an IC card only needs to have an external terminal formed on the IC card accurately connected to a connector of an IC card reader / writer. The depth D) shown may be fixed. In order to read the infrared reading information printed on the card base with the infrared reading device, an element for reading is provided around the external terminal shown by the dotted line in the figure or on the back side of the external terminal.

The sublimation type thermal transfer film will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in the figure, the sublimation type thermal transfer film 4 is a protective material 4 which is transparent in both the visible light region and the infrared region and rich in abrasion resistance on a base film (not shown).
3. An infrared absorbing material 42 which is transparent in the visible light range and absorbs infrared rays in the infrared range, an infrared reflecting material 41 which is transparent in the visible light range and reflects infrared rays in the infrared range, and a visible material 44 are formed.

The base film can be selected from plastic films such as polyester, polyethylene, polypropylene, polycarbonate, cellulose acetate, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, nylon and polyimide. In many cases, polyester is selected because it has stable heat resistance for the cost. The thickness of the base film can be appropriately changed depending on the material so that its heat resistance and thermal conductivity are appropriate, but it is preferably about 3.5 to 38 μm.

First, a sticking prevention material is applied to one side of the base film of the sublimation type thermal transfer film 4 so that the heat sensitive head which has become hot does not stick to the base film. Further, on the opposite side, a release layer is formed by printing or coating so that transfer can be performed smoothly.

Next, the above-mentioned protect coat material 43 which is transparent in both the visible light region and the infrared region and is rich in abrasion resistance, and the material 4 which is transparent in the visible light region and absorbs infrared rays in the infrared region.
2. A material 41 that is transparent in the visible light region and that reflects infrared light in the infrared region and a visible material 44 are formed into strips having the same pitch by coating or printing.

(Protect coat material) This material also serves as a release material, and it is necessary to consider the melting point and hardness. For example, carnauba wax, paraffin wax, candelilla wax, polyester wax, acrylic wax, etc. are mixed. It can be selected from the materials.

(Material Transparent in Visible Light Region and Absorbing Infrared Light in Infrared Region) As described above, the material absorbing infrared light in the infrared region needs to be transparent in the visible light region. Furthermore, the properties as a thermal transfer film material are required. Therefore, an ytterbium compound (YbPO ₄ ) having a particle size of 0.3 to 0.5 μm can be selected. Ytterbium particles can be produced by various methods, but from the viewpoint of high infrared absorptivity, high crystallinity, for example, YtPOb alkoxide and phosphoric acid alkoxide are hydrolyzed to produce YbPO ₄ particles,
The coupling agent produced by surface-treating with a coupling agent is not particularly limited as long as it binds to the YbPO ₄ particles and the resin to be the ink vehicle. For example, a silane compound, a titanium compound, a zirconium compound, an aluminum compound, a metal chelate compound, etc. can be mentioned. In particular, the chemical properties, for example, stable to organic solvents, strong physical strength,
Further, a silane coupling agent is preferable from the viewpoint that a functional group having good adhesiveness to the ink vehicle is added and the degree of freedom in selection is high.

(Material Transparent in Visible Light Region and Reflecting Infrared Light in Infrared Region) As infrared reflective particles, for example, titanium oxide, magnesium carbonate or barium sulfate can be processed and used as transparent particles.

Next, a vehicle for producing a thermal transfer ink for applying or printing the above-mentioned material on a base film as a thermal transfer material will be described. The vehicle is prepared by adding a synthetic resin, wax and, if necessary, a solvent. As the synthetic resin, for example, polyethylene, polystyrene, polypropylene, polybutylene, vinylidene chloride resin, methacrylic resin, polyamide, polycarbonate, etc. may be used alone or in combination, taking into consideration the voltage and melting point of the thermal head. The wax is selected from, for example, carnauba wax, montan wax, paraffin wax, candelilla wax and the like. The solvent is selected from, for example, toluene, xylene, methyl ethyl ketone, ethyl acetate, methanol, ethanol and the like.

The sublimation type retransfer film will be described with reference to FIG. A sublimation type retransfer film as shown in FIG. 6 is produced by using the sublimation type thermal transfer film having the structure shown in FIG. First, the protect material 43 is transferred onto the base film 71 of the transfer film 7. Although it is possible to coat the entire surface of the base film 71 with the protect material 43, an IC card or a SIM card
When printing one unique information for each sheet, the thickness of the protect coat layer must be increased in order to enhance the protective effect, and as a result the curtain break from the base film becomes worse. Transcribe to enhance the curtain-cut effect. The protect material is the entire transfer surface, for example, SI
In the case of an M card, it is transferred to a size equal to the shape of the card.

Next, the invisible information 3 is printed on the protective material 43 by the infrared absorbing material 42 in the reverse image.

Next, an infrared reflecting material 4 for reflecting infrared rays
Transfer 1 to the entire booth. If the visible information to be transferred next is character information, the infrared reflecting material 41 adheres to the IC card base material to support the retransferred material, so that an adhesive is applied to the infrared reflecting material forming layer. include.

A visible material 44, which is visible in the visible light region, is printed on the infrared reflective material layer 41 described above. The visible information may be a single color or 3 to 4 colors of a sublimation type thermal transfer material.

With reference to FIG. 8 and FIG. 7 showing the cross section of the SIM card, the necessity of printing images and characters on the back side of the IC module by the sublimation retransfer method will be described. The card base is printed on a thermoplastic plastic sheet and laminated by heat and pressure. As shown in FIG.
Transparent sheet 101, opalescent sheet (core sheet) 105,
A laminated sheet 100, which is a laminated body of the transparent sheets 101, is formed. The above-mentioned laminated sheet 100 is punched into a single card by a die-cutting device, and the finished card is formed with a shallow recess and a deep recess using a router. The shallow recess (hatched portion indicated by 53) is formed so that the circuit board 53 of the IC module 5 is fitted therein, and the deep recess 51 is formed so as to accommodate the sealing resin portion 55 of the IC chip. To be done.

As can be seen from FIG. 7, the deep recess 51 is set to have a large depth and a large width so that the size of the sealing resin portion and the mounting position error of the IC module can be tolerated. Space is inevitably created. Further, as described above, since the card base is a thermoplastic resin, when forming a deep recess, as shown in FIG. 5, heat and tension generated at the time of forming the recess in the transparent sheet portion on the back side of the recess Distortion will occur. As a result, even if the sublimation type thermal transfer printing is directly performed by the thermal head on the portion wavy due to such distortion, the transfer material is not transferred uniformly.
Therefore, conventionally, at least the area corresponding to the back side of the IC module is set to avoid printing. Then, a sublimation retransfer printer has appeared, and, for example, a plurality of transfer layers having reverse images printed thereon, as described with reference to FIG. 6, are pressed from the side opposite to the transfer layer of the retransfer film 7 and the base surface. It is transferred in a lump by a soft mold plate made of rubber or the like.

A state in which the visible information 2 and the invisible information 3 transferred to the IC card are read separately in the visible light region and the infrared region will be described with reference to FIGS. Milky white sheet 10
5 is printed (printing ink 61), and the opalescent sheet 1
05 is sandwiched by the transparent sheet 101 on the front and back, and laminated by heat and pressure. After they are stacked, they are finished as one card, the two-step recesses 51 and 53 are formed as described above, and the IC module 5 is mounted. The upper surface of the deep recess after the IC module is mounted has a wavy surface as shown in FIG. 7 (the boundary line of the recess is actually wavy, but it is shown as a straight line in the figure). ). Image information is transferred to the wavy surface by a sublimation retransfer film. From the card substrate side, visible information 2 printed with visible material 44, a layer of infrared reflecting material 41 containing an adhesive on top of it, invisible information 3 printed with infrared absorbing material 42, and a protective layer of protecting material 43. Are stacked in this order. As described above, the infrared reflective layer serves as an adhesive layer for adhering the card substrate and the information print layer. In FIG. 7, the invisible information 3 printed by the infrared absorbing material 42,
Although all the layers of the visible information 2 printed by the visible material 44 are illustrated as layers having a uniform thickness,
Actually, it is partially formed by character information and the like.

When infrared rays are radiated from the protective layer side,
The infrared rays pass through the protective layer (43) and are reflected by the layer of the infrared reflecting material 41 on the back side of the infrared absorbing material 42,
Characters of the invisible information 3 formed of the infrared absorbing material 42,
Reflects brightly except for numbers, symbols and marks (not shown). On the other hand, since the infrared absorbing portion is dark, the information can be read by its contrast.
It is possible to irradiate infrared rays with an infrared irradiating device and visually identify it, or read a mark with a sensor.
On the other hand, the protective material 43, the infrared absorbing material 42, and the infrared reflecting material 41 are transparent in the visible light region, so the visible information 2 printed with a visible dye or pigment is as shown in FIG. , The left half portion (“0123”, “8901”, “01/0”, which is printed on the surface of the card substrate and covered with the infrared reflecting material layer,
"Japan") also covers the right half portion ("4567", "2345", "-03/0" covered with the layer of the infrared absorbing material 42).
4 ”,“ Taro ”) can also be read as one piece of information under the visible light region. In the visible region,
As shown in FIG. 5, the portion of the invisible information 3 is seen as a portion in which nothing is printed except the visible information. When infrared rays are applied to the portion of the invisible information 3, the visible information 2
The visible information portion of the right half on which is printed becomes invisible, and the invisible information 3 formed thereon becomes "visible".

A method of manufacturing a laminated card will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in the normal-printing opalescent sheet 102, the cards 10 are printed by multiple-sided printing, and the cards 10 are regularly arranged in the vertical and horizontal directions. The card 10 may be an ISO size IC card (about 54 × 86 mm) or a SIM size SIM card (about 15 × 25 mm). The front and back designs are printed on the opalescent sheets 102, which are front and back printing sheets. Although the printing method is selectively used depending on the design, as described above, most of them use the offset printing method to print fine lines and photographic objects. The printing ink used is UV (ultraviolet) curable ink, rarely oxidation polymerization type ink. UV ink is irradiated with ultraviolet rays to be instantly dried, and the oxidation polymerization type ink is exposed to air for a certain period of time. Leave to dry. In addition, a profound design with a deep design is printed by the screen printing method. Since inks for screen printing usually have a pigment and a resin dissolved in a solvent, the solvent is volatilized and dried.

When the printing ink has dried, the milky white sheet 103 serving as a core is sandwiched between the milky white sheets 102 on the front and back sides, and the transparent sheet 101 is laminated on the front and back printing ink surfaces.
When a magnetic recording portion is required, the magnetic stripe is transferred beforehand to the non-adhesive surface of the transparent sheet on the surface. Lamination is usually performed by heat and pressure.When an adhesive is used, heat-reactive type adhesive is applied to both sides of the printing sheet or both sides of the opalescent (core) sheet and the side in contact with the printing side of the transparent sheet. Coating. The conditions for lamination are, when the material is vinyl chloride, the temperature is 110 to 160 degrees Celsius.
Degree, pressure 2-3MPa, heating / cooling time 40-60
Do in minutes. The multi-sided laminated sheet that has undergone the laminating step is sent to the die cutting step to form a single card.

In order to make an IC card, first, a recess for mounting an IC module is formed on the credit card-sized card produced through the above steps. As described in FIG. 6, the concave portion is composed of a shallow concave portion for fixing the IC module and a deep concave portion for housing the sealing resin portion of the IC chip. First, a large shallow concave portion is formed, and then A small and deep recess is formed.

[0035]

1) By using the sublimation type retransfer printer, it becomes possible to print around the IC module of the card, which could not be printed due to the uneven surface, especially within 3 mm from the external device connection terminal. A lot of printing area was secured. 2) Since the information can be printed double on the back of the SIM card, the area of the SIM card is substantially 2
The double area could be used as the unique information display part. As a result, since the unique information that was conventionally printed using the front and back sides can be aggregated on one side, a card design or the like can be printed on the remaining one side. 3) By making half of the above information display contents compatible with infrared rays, an invisible portion is formed in the visible light region, and an undecipherable symbol or information recorded on the IC chip by a mark is formed in that portion. By displaying a part of the information and having the owner and the terminal confirm a part of the information, it becomes possible to protect from damage caused by misuse of the IC card or the SIM card. 4) Also, external force is applied to the IC chip and it is destroyed,
Even if the information recorded in the chip cannot be read, the minimum necessary information can now be read by infrared information. 5) Security information such as facial photographs, fingerprints, and signatures is encoded and printed as invisible information on the card, and by reading with a dedicated reader, it is possible to confirm the card holder even if the IC chip information cannot be read. became.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram in which the unique information of the card holder is printed on the back of the SIM card.

[Fig. 2] A diagram in which unique information of the card holder is printed on the front surface of the SIM card.

FIG. 3 is a figure in which the unique information of the card holder is double printed on the back of the SIM card.

[Fig. 4] Inserting an IC card into an IC card reader to IC
Diagram for explaining the state of reading and writing information to the chip

FIG. 5 is a view for explaining an example of a transfer film used for printing by a sublimation type thermal transfer system.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an example of a transfer film used for sublimation retransfer printing.

7 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a method of manufacturing a card by a stacking method.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 IC card 2 visible information 3 invisible information 4 Sublimation type thermal transfer film 5 IC module (external terminal) 6 Printed design 7 Sublimation type retransfer film 8 IC card reader / writer 10 IC card (SIM card) 41 Infrared reflective material 42 Infrared absorbing material (material for printing invisible information) 43 Protect material 44 Visible materials (materials for printing visible information) 50 Back side of IC module mounting 51 Recesses for mounting IC modules (deep recesses) 53 External terminal board part (shallow recess) 55 IC chip sealing resin 61 printing ink 100 laminated sheets 101 transparent sheet 102 Milky white sheet (for printing) 103 Milky white sheet (for core) 105 Milky white sheet Insertion distance required to read the D IC card

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An IC card in which an IC module having an external device connection terminal is formed on the surface of a thermoplastic thin plate, the periphery of the external device connection terminal and / or the IC.
On the surface of the IC card on the back side of the module, the information unique to the IC card holder is printed by a sublimation retransfer method. The information unique to the holder is visible information visible in the visible light region and infrared information in the infrared region. An IC characterized by forming invisible information that is visible and invisible in the visible light region
card. 2. The IC card according to claim 1, wherein the invisible information includes a pattern that can be identified by a reading device using infrared rays. 3. The IC card according to claim 1, wherein the invisible information is a part of security information stored in an IC chip mounted on the IC module. 4. The IC card according to claim 1, wherein the IC card is a SIM card.