JP2712570B2 - Card recording method - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for visually recording and erasing repeatedly used cards such as commuter passes, entrance permits, and various prepaid cards.

(Prior art and its problems) A commuter pass for transportation, a permit for entering an event site or a building and the like are used repeatedly every day, but there is no means to check for improper riding or improper admission in management.

In recent years, the check method using a magnetic card has been partially adopted, but since the presence or absence of the check can not be visually observed, there is a possibility that the check may leak due to a trouble on the device, and both the administrator and the user felt inconvenience. .

Also in various prepaid cards, magnetic cards and
Although an IC card is used, the amount of payment and balance cannot be checked easily because the recorded contents cannot be directly viewed,
There was a problem in guaranteeing the contents for the user.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention provides a method of making a visible record on a card that is repeatedly used such as a commuter pass, an admission ticket, various prepaid cards, and erasing it.

That is, the present invention uses a card in which a recording portion made of a synthetic resin is formed on at least a part of the surface, and the recording portion is preliminarily frosted at a temperature equal to or higher than the glass transition temperature of the resin and equal to or lower than the melting point to retain distortion. In the meantime, at the time of recording on the card, the recording portion is partially heated at a temperature equal to or higher than the frost processing temperature to form an image by smoothing, and at the time of recording and erasing, the glass transition temperature of the resin is equal to or higher than the melting point. This is a card recording method for erasing the image by frosting the recording section at a temperature, and has a feature that image formation and erasure can be repeatedly performed thereafter.

 Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a card used in the method of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view of a frost-treated card, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line VV of FIG. 4 of the card on which an image is formed.

The case of checking the entrance and exit according to the present invention will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the card 1 to be used has a layer 11 made of a synthetic resin having a smooth surface exposed on the card surface. Is formed.

On the surface other than the recording unit 13, a necessary explanation and decorative design are displayed by printing 12.

On the back surface of the synthetic resin layer 11, a base material 3 such as a high strength polyethylene terephthalate sheet or paper is laminated. A magnetic recording layer 4 is provided on the surface so as to hold various kinds of information.

As a resin constituting the synthetic resin layer 11, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene,
Various resins such as polymethyl (meth) acrylate, polyethylene terephthalate, polyamide, polycarbonate, polyacetal, ABS resin, and copolymer resins thereof can be used alone or in combination. Of these, amorphous resins such as polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, polymethyl (meth) acrylate, and polycarbonate are preferred because they are easy to handle.

In addition, a crosslinkable acrylic resin, a crosslinkable urethane resin, or a resin obtained by crosslinking the above various resins with a crosslinking agent, electron beam, γ-ray, heat crosslinking, or the like to such an extent that the fluidity under heating is not lost can also be used.

The heat of the synthetic resin layer 11 is not particularly limited, but is usually 10 μm.
The heat of the entire card 1 is not particularly limited, but is about 0.1 to 3 mm.

The color of the synthetic resin layer 11 is also not particularly limited, and may be colorless and transparent, or may be colored (preferably dark).

Next, a method of recording on the card will be described. First, as shown in FIG.

This frost treatment is performed so that the resin of the synthetic resin layer 11 has a glass transition temperature (Tg) or higher and a melting point (T
m) Perform the following.

At a temperature lower than Tg, no distortion occurs even by the frost treatment, but the generated distortion is rapidly released without heating.

At a temperature higher than Tm, frosting can be performed, but the resulting frost does not have distortion and cannot be erased by reheating, so that the object of the present invention cannot be achieved.

In the case of an amorphous resin, a clear Tm is often not shown. In this case, the flow start temperature is used as the melting point. In general, a crosslinked resin that does not show a Tm also has a flow start temperature (or decomposition start temperature). The frost treatment may be performed in the following. When two or more Tg are shown in the mixed resin or copolymer resin,
The higher Tg may be used as a reference.

For the frost treatment, an ordinary method using a frost plate or frost roll can be adopted.

As a frost state, the surface roughness of the frost surface 14 is preferably in a range of 1 to 10 μm in terms of 10-point average roughness of JIS-B-0601. If the thickness is less than 1 μm, even if an image is formed on the frosted surface during recording, the difference from the smooth surface is small, and it is difficult to determine the presence or absence of the image. And the heating temperature must be increased, which is disadvantageous in terms of equipment.

When entering using this card, the recording unit 13 of the frosted card 1 is partially heated at a temperature higher than the frost processing temperature to smooth the portion, and as shown in FIGS. The image 2 is formed.

Since the frost surface 14 has distortion as described above, when the frost surface 14 is heated at a temperature higher than the distortion application temperature, the distortion is released, and only the heated portion of the frost surface 14 returns to the original smooth surface and the frost surface 14 An image 2 such as a character, a symbol, or a figure appears due to a difference in reflectance between the surface and the smooth surface.

Heating can be performed by press-fitting of a heated stamp, but it is preferable to use a thermal head used in a usual thermal printer.

The thermal head here is a matrix-shaped head in which minute heating elements are gathered, and only necessary points are heated by an external signal.

When an image composed of a group of many points is formed using a thermal head, the boundary becomes clear, so that the image becomes clear and the resolving power increases.

In addition, using a thermal head can record not only a predetermined image but also any character and size as needed, and display the image on a CRT display etc., record it after checking it, etc. it can.

The size of the minute points forming the image may be appropriately selected according to the size of the image and the like, but from the viewpoint of the clarity of characters, about 35 to 2304 points / mm 2 is appropriate.

As the recorded image 2, in addition to the indication that the user has just entered, the location and date of entry may be considered.

When leaving, the entire surface of the recording unit 13 is subjected to frost processing,
Image 2 is deleted. This frost treatment is performed at a temperature of Tg or more and Tm or less of the synthetic resin, like the first frost treatment,
Have distortion inside.

As a result, the card returns to the state before image formation (FIG. 3) and can be used repeatedly thereafter.

The deletion of the recorded image can be performed at an appropriate time according to the use of the card. For example, it may be performed immediately before performing new recording at the next use of the card.

Further, in the present invention, a recording means such as the magnetic recording layer 4 is provided on the back of the card or the like to facilitate arithmetic processing by the device at the time of entry or exit, and to record various information such as usage details. it can.

In this case, of the information stored in the magnetic recording layer or the like, main information relating to each use may be visually displayed as the recorded image 2 for confirmation.

The method of the present invention can be used for recording and displaying the amount of money used and the balance on a prepaid card used in a restaurant, a store, and the like, in addition to the above-mentioned entrance / exit check for transportation and facilities.

(Effect of the Invention) According to the method of the present invention, an erasable visible image can be easily formed on a card, and if there is a recording omission or an erroneous recording due to a trouble on the device, it can be immediately visually confirmed. This is convenient not only for the administrator but also for the user, and gives the user a sense of security.

If recording is performed using a thermal head, a clear and high-resolution image can be obtained, and an arbitrary image can be recorded with high efficiency.

Also, the card can be repeatedly recorded, erased and re-recorded, so that it can be used repeatedly and has high reliability.

(Example) (A) In the card 1 having the structure shown in FIG. 1, a black polyvinyl chloride resin sheet (thickness: 30) was used as the synthetic resin layer 11.
Using a polyethylene terephthalate sheet (thickness: 150 μm) as the base material 3, a white print 12 was made on a black sheet while leaving the recording portion 13, thereby producing a card.

(B) Next, the recording unit 13 is formed using a frost hot plate under the following conditions.
Was pressurized and subjected to frost treatment.

Hot plate frost surface roughness 15μm (10-point average roughness) Hot plate temperature 80 ° C Pressurized condition 20kg / cm ² , 0.5 seconds This results in a frost surface 14 with 10-point average roughness 8μm on the recording unit 13. Been formed.

(C) Next, "Entry" is displayed on the CRT display,
It was printed on the recording unit by running a 24-dot (head size 5 mm square) thermal head printer (120 ° C.) on the recording unit, and a clear smooth image was obtained.

(D) Then, when the recording unit 13 was subjected to frost processing under the same conditions as in (B), the image was completely lost.

The same performance was obtained even when the above processes (C) to (D) were repeated 1000 times.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an example of a card used in the method of the present invention,
2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of a frost-treated card, FIG. 4 is a partial plan view of a card on which a recorded image is formed, and FIG. V-V sectional view 1 ... Card, 11 ... Synthetic resin 13 ... Recording part, 14 ... Frost surface 2 ... Image

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A card in which a recording portion made of a synthetic resin is formed on at least a part of its surface, and the recording portion is previously subjected to a frost treatment at a temperature not lower than the glass transition temperature and not higher than the melting point of the resin to retain distortion. During recording on the card, the recording portion is partially heated at a temperature higher than the frost processing temperature to form an image by smoothing, and at the time of recording and erasing, a temperature equal to or higher than the glass transition temperature and lower than the melting point of the resin. Wherein the recording section is subjected to frost processing to delete the image.