JP3109444B2 - Information recording card and method of manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to security information represented by personal identification information and the like, which is a high-reliability gradation image having a rich gradation expression and a binarized image. The present invention relates to an information recording card having an added value by being provided in both forms of a binary image and a method of manufacturing the information recording card.
Characters, symbols or various patterns recorded as value images are excellent in rub resistance and high in robustness, and particularly, the gradation image is personal identification information represented by a face photograph or the like,
It is effective for exhibiting high security.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Today, cards are widely used in various fields, and their types and uses are diverse. Various information is usually recorded on such cards. Magnetic recording on a magnetic recording layer provided on a card is one of them, but most is visual information. As a method of recording the visual information, printing is generally used to duplicate many pieces of the same information. To record individual information for each card, embossing, laser recording and the like have been conventionally performed. More recently, color images have been recorded using various types of image equipment and small computers. As the method, thermal sublimation recording using thermal sublimation ink is generally used.

[0003] Since the heat sublimation ink can control the transfer amount of the heat sublimation dye to the recording medium in accordance with the heating amount, not only a binary image such as a character but also a gradation image such as a photographic image can be obtained. The feature is that the recording of an image having the following can also be performed. However, on the other hand, the thermal sublimation ink generally has a lower thermal sensitivity than the heat-fusible transfer ink, and has a problem that the reliability of the recorded image is deteriorated due to resublimation, bleeding, fading, etc. of the thermal sublimable dye. .

[0004] The reliability of a recorded image is at a level that does not hinder practical use when it is simply used as a general image printer. In applications where high contrast is also required, recording is still insufficient.

In such a case, binary image recording is generally performed on a card using a heat-meltable ink. However, since the normal heat-meltable ink is mainly composed of wax, it is difficult to print a recorded image. It is not robust and has the drawback that recording is easily lost due to rubbing and the like, which has been a problem for cards. still,
The cards referred to here are, in particular, prepaid cards, commuter passes, gift certificates, admission tickets, vouchers such as tickets, ID cards such as credit cards and identification cards, student ID cards, In any of these cases, the character record must be free from tampering or a reduction in visibility.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and has as its object to provide prepaid cards, commuter passes, gift certificates, admission tickets, and cash vouchers. Classes, credit cards, IDs, student IDs, etc.
In the case of cards such as D-cards, which must not have the risk of tampering or lowering of visibility in character recording, and cards in which both a gradation image and a binary image are recorded, a high level is obtained. To provide an information recording card having both a gradation image having a gradation characteristic and a unique information identification characteristic and a binary image having a high reliability and a strong rubbing resistance, and a method for manufacturing the same. It is still another object of the present invention to provide an image in which a gradation image can be used as information which can be sufficiently easily identified by a human even by visual observation, such as a facial photograph image with a rich gradation.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The means provided by the present invention for solving the problems include, first, a prepaid card, a commuter pass, a gift certificate, an admission ticket, and the like. An information recording card that is either a voucher such as a ticket, a credit card, or an ID card such as an identification card, a student ID card, etc., provided over a specific area on a card-shaped base material. In the heat-sublimable ink receiving layer, a gradation image by the heat-sublimable ink is recorded, and in an arbitrary area on the base material,
A linear saturated polyester resin formed by condensation polymerization of a dicarboxylic acid component and a diol component has a glass transition point of 50
A binary image is recorded with a thermofusible transfer ink containing a thermoplastic resin, a colorant, and a lubricant as main components, which is composed of an acrylic resin having a temperature in a range of from 110 ° C to 110 ° C. An information recording card, wherein the content of the saturated polyester resin is 10 to 30% by mass based on the entire thermoplastic resin of the ink.

Preferably, the information recording card according to the first aspect of the present invention has a basic structure, and the gradation image has three colors of yellow, magenta, and cyan in the length direction. Or a full-color image formed of four color sublimable inks obtained by adding black ink to the information recording card.

Alternatively, preferably, the information recording card according to any one of claims 1 and 2 has a basic structure, and the gradation image is a face photograph. It is an information recording card.

[0010]

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view schematically showing a state of manufacturing an information recording card according to the present invention, in which a thermal transfer ribbon 3 is applied to a card-shaped substrate 10 (which is a recording medium).
0, thermal head 20, pressing platen roller 40
Is used to record an image.

When performing color recording of an image with gradation in the manufacturing method shown in FIG. 1, first, the yellow portion 31 of the thermal sublimation ink layer of the transfer ribbon 30 is transferred to the card-shaped substrate 10.
And transfer recording in yellow by the thermal head 20 while moving in the directions of arrows B and A, respectively.
After the end, the recording medium 10 is pulled back in the direction of arrow A 'to overlap the magenta portion 32, and transfer recording of magenta is similarly performed. Similarly, after the transfer recording of the cyan portion is performed, the heat-fusible transfer ink layer 34 is similarly transferred to perform character recording. In this example, the character recording is performed after the gradation image is recorded. However, the order may be reversed.

[0013] An example of an identification card recorded on a recording medium which is a card-shaped base material by the above-mentioned method (for example, a prepaid card or a commuter pass, a gift certificate, an admission ticket, a ticket, etc., as an information recording card) FIG. 2 shows a cash voucher, a credit card, or one of ID cards such as an identification card and a student ID card. That is,
FIG. 2 shows a face photograph image 51 recorded on a card substrate 50 (which is a recording medium) with a thermal sublimation ink in a rich gradation.
And a character image 52 formed by a heat-meltable transfer ink. By using a thermal head, it is possible to perform recording on an arbitrary portion on a card-shaped base material as a recording medium. Image data required for recording can be input from a commercially available video camera or the like, and character data can also be input from a commercially available personal computer or the like.

Here, the card-like base material has a thickness of 150 to
300 μm polyester sheet, 500-1,000
A μm rigid PVC sheet, rigid PVC / polycarbonate laminated sheet, or various paperboards are generally used.
When the information recording card according to the present invention is manufactured, before recording the gradation image and the binary image, the card-shaped substrate may be used. (Punching, cutting, shaving, etc.). In addition, the material of the receptor layer that receives the thermal sublimation dye is not particularly limited, and a known material used for a general thermal sublimation transfer printer can be used.

Regarding the area of the receiving layer, a typical need for an information recording card is that a face photograph is provided. Since it is expensive, in that case, a size corresponding to the size of the face photograph is required. Specifically, the width is desirably about 2.5 to 5 cm on the short side and about 2.5 to 6 cm on the long side. Incidentally, the image to be recorded on the information recording card according to the present invention as a gradation-rich gradation image to be recorded by thermal sublimation transfer using a thermal sublimation dye, other than a typical example of a face photograph In such a case, it is possible to cope with the problem by providing the receiving layer in a region having a size different from that of the above-mentioned one without rescue.

The transfer ribbon is made of a heat-resistant film such as a polyester film, a polyamide film, a cellophane film, an aramid film or the like having a thickness of 3 to 50 μm, or a thin paper such as a capacitor paper. A layer provided with a layer and a heat-fusible transfer ink layer is used.

Here, the heat sublimable ink layer may be a layer coated with a known heat sublimable ink used in a general video printer or the like.
It is possible to use one that is painted in three colors of magenta, and it is also possible to use one that is additionally provided with a heat-sublimable ink layer of black color and painted in four colors. If only black recording is performed, a single-color thermal sublimation ink layer may be used.

The hot-melt transfer ink layer comprises a linear saturated polyester resin formed by condensation polymerization of a dicarboxylic acid component and a diol component, and a glass transition point of 50 to 110.
Thermoplastic resin consisting of acrylic resin in the range of ° C.
This is a hot-melt transfer ink layer containing a colorant and a lubricant as main components.

By using the saturated polyester resin, the effect of improving the adhesion of the transfer layer to the recording medium during thermal transfer recording can be obtained. The amount of the saturated polyester resin to be added is not necessarily limited, but it is desirable to record a binary image having higher contrast with the information recording card according to the present invention, or to perform a highly reliable thermal transfer recording operation. In order to meet the needs, a particularly preferable addition amount is 10 to 30% by weight of the saturated polyester resin based on the entire thermoplastic resin.
That is, if the content of the saturated polyester resin is less than 10% by weight, the tendency of the adhesiveness to the recording medium to decrease due to the small amount of the saturated polyester resin, and conversely, 3%.
If it exceeds 0% by weight, the adhesiveness of the transfer layer to the recording medium is increased due to the large amount of the saturated polyester resin, but the adhesiveness between the base material of the thermal transfer ribbon itself and the transfer layer is also increased, so that thermal transfer recording is performed. This is because, at this time, an inconvenient tendency such that deterioration of the ease of peeling of the transfer layer starts to be seen starts.

The acrylic resin imparts a plasticizer resistance to the heat-meltable transfer ink layer, and preferably has a glass transition point of 50 to 110 ° C. This is because if the glass transition point is lower than 50 ° C., the chemical resistance and the plasticizer resistance are insufficient, and if it exceeds 110 ° C., the thermal sensitivity becomes too low.

The colorant is not particularly limited as long as it has good visibility. For example, carbon black and various inorganic and organic pigments can be used. Further, the lubricant is necessary for improving the friction resistance of the recording formed on the recording medium, and specifically includes metal salts of higher fatty acids such as Teflon powder, polyethylene powder, waxes, and zinc stearate. Etc. can be used.

The preferred composition ratio of the heat-meltable transfer ink layer is in the range of 40 to 80% by weight of the thermoplastic resin, 5 to 30% by weight of the lubricant, and 5 to 30% by weight of the colorant. Things.

The thermal head, which is a heating means, may be of a flatbed type used in a normal thermal printer. However, when the card is particularly thick and difficult to bend, for example, an end surface type having a heating element on the end surface of the substrate is used. A thermal head is preferred. There is no particular limitation when using a hot stamping board. Since the heat-meltable transfer ink layer has almost the same thermal sensitivity as the heat-sublimation ink layer, a separate heating means is not required for the transfer, and a thermal head or a thermal head used for sublimation transfer recording is used. Since the stamp plate can be used as it is, the convenience is high. Since the gradation image recorded by the thermal sublimation ink has a defect in durability as described above, it is preferable to appropriately provide a protective layer on the image to protect the gradation image. If the protective layer is a transparent transparent protective layer, it is naturally possible to view a gradation image with rich gradation under the protective layer.

[0024]

【Example】

<Example 1> A 250 μm-thick polyester sheet having a card-like shape and a recording layer provided with a heat sublimable ink receiving layer,
End face type thermal head (EUX, manufactured by Matsushita Electronic Components Co., Ltd.)
-E8A4), and a transfer ribbon having a 6 μm thick polyester film (Lumirror 6CF53 manufactured by Toray Industries, Inc.) provided with a heat sublimation ink layer and a 3 μm thick heat melting transfer ink layer having the following composition. Recording.

[Composition of the hot-melt transfer ink layer] Carbon black 12 parts by weight Methacrylic acid ester (BR-64, manufactured by Mitsubishi Rayon) 60 parts by weight Saturated polyester (Elitel UE3210, manufactured by Unitika) 18 parts by weight Teflon powder 6 parts by weight

The end face type thermal head has an applied voltage of 14 V
Thus, a gradation image was recorded by modulating the conduction pulse width of the heating element to 2 to 20 msec. Thereafter, characters of a binary image were recorded with the conduction pulse width of 4 msec by the end face type thermal head.

As a result, an image of a face photograph having excellent gradation can be obtained by the thermal sublimation ink, and a high contrast is obtained by the hot-melt transfer ink, and a strong resistance against rubbing friction and the like is obtained. A character image was obtained.
The character image was subjected to a 30-way reciprocating rubbing test with a plastic eraser, and no blurring of the character was observed. A further 30-way rubbing test was performed.
Although there was a slight decrease in density, the characters could be read without any loss and no hindrance.

<Example 2> An end face type thermal head (MT-S2-8-1 manufactured by Mitani Electronics Co., Ltd.) was applied to a 760 μm thick PVC card provided with a heat sublimable ink receiving layer.
Then, a face photograph was recorded using the same transfer ribbon as in Example 1. The applied voltage is 16 V and the conduction pulse width is 2 to 15 m
The gradation image was recorded by modulating the image in seconds. Thereafter, recording of binary image characters was performed with a conduction pulse width of 6 msec.

As a result, as in the case of Example 1, an image of a face photograph having excellent gradation was obtained by the thermal sublimation ink, and the hot-melt transfer ink had high contrast and reduced rubbing friction. A character image having a strong resistance to this was also obtained. When the character image was subjected to 30 reciprocal rubbing tests with a plastic eraser, no deterioration of the character image was observed.

[0030]

According to the present invention, a gradation image of a thermosublimable ink is recorded on a thermosublimable ink receiving layer provided over a specific region on a card-shaped substrate, In addition, a linear saturated polyester resin formed by polycondensation of a dicarboxylic acid component and a diol component has a glass transition point of 50 ° C to 110 ° in an arbitrary region on the substrate.
Thermoplastic resin consisting of acrylic resin in the range of ° C.
By forming an information recording card having a configuration in which a binary image is recorded with a hot-melt transfer ink containing a coloring agent and a lubricant as main components, a gradation image having excellent gradation and a solid image having excellent contrast and rubbing are provided. It is equipped with a binary image that is resistant to friction and highly reliable. As a result, a high-gradation image is suitable for identifying unique information and a beautiful image, and characters that need not be easily falsified or lost. , Symbols, patterns, etc., can be provided as a card-shaped information recording card.

Accordingly, the card thus obtained is a prepaid card, a voucher such as a commuter pass, a gift certificate, an admission ticket, a boarding ticket, or a credit card, or an ID card such as an identification card or a student ID card. Information recording card capable of simultaneously satisfying a demand for information discrimination and a beautiful image by its rich gradation image and a demand for highly reliable information by a robust binary image. Could be provided.

Then, it was possible to provide a method of manufacturing the same. Furthermore, the binary image is robust as described above,
In particular, it is possible to provide an image in which a gradation image can be used as information that can be sufficiently easily identified by a human even by visual inspection, such as a facial photograph image with rich gradation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing an outline of an example of a method for manufacturing an information recording card according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing an outline of an example of an information recording card according to the present invention. (The entirety of the card-like substrate 50 having both the face photograph image 51 and the character image 52 corresponds to the information recording card.)

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Card-shaped base material 20 ... Thermal head 30 ... Thermal transfer ribbon 31 ... Yellow part of thermal sublimation ink layer 32 ... Magenta part of thermal sublimation ink layer 33 ... Thermal sublimation Cyan portion of fusible ink layer 34: heat-fusible transfer ink layer 40: platen roller 50 for pressing 50: card-shaped substrate 51: face photograph image 52: character image A, A '. ..Movement direction B ... Movement direction

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B42D 15/10 501-551 B41M 5/30

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. Prepaid cards or commuter pass,
An information recording card that is a cash voucher such as a gift certificate, an admission ticket, a ticket, or a credit card, or an ID card such as an identification card, a student ID card, etc., on a card-shaped base material. In the heat-sublimable ink receiving layer provided over the specific area of the above, a gradation image by the heat-sublimable ink is recorded, and in any area on the substrate, the dicarboxylic acid component and the diol Thermofusibility mainly composed of a thermoplastic resin, a colorant, and a lubricant composed of a linear saturated polyester resin formed by condensation polymerization of components and an acrylic resin having a glass transition point in the range of 50 ° C to 110 ° C. That a binary image is recorded by the transfer ink, and that the thermoplastic resin of the hot-melt transfer ink is entirely
On the other hand, the content of the saturated polyester resin is 10 to 30% by mass.
Information recording card, characterized in that. 2. The image according to claim 1, wherein the gradation image is a full-color image formed of three colors of yellow, magenta, and cyan in the length direction, or four colors of thermal sublimation ink obtained by adding black to the three colors. Information recording card described in. 3. The information recording card according to claim 1, wherein the gradation image is a face photograph.