JP4271106B2 - Information recording medium - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information recording medium that can be distinguished from those obtained by forgery or falsification based on illegal intentions.

  Plastic film for various uses such as various cards such as credit cards or savings cards, identification cards, or commuter pass tickets for transportation (hereinafter collectively referred to as "cards"). An information recording medium constructed by laminating or embedding information recording means such as a magnetic recording layer or an IC chip on a base material such as the above is often used.

  Due to its importance, information recording media used for cards and the like are easily subject to forgery or alteration by persons with unauthorized intentions. For example, prepare the same base material and information recording means as a genuine card etc., integrate them by stacking or embedding, etc., and decorate the genuine product with characters, characters etc. Forgery such as duplication may be performed by use of means. Further, there is a case where a used genuine product is obtained, and the information recorded in the information recording means is rewritten, or a part of decoration, characters, etc. is rewritten so that it can be exercised.

  As a preventive measure against forgery as described above, particularly as a preventive measure against forgery using a color copy or a scanner, a hologram sticker has been conventionally laminated on a card or the like. The reason for this is that the hologram pattern of the hologram sticker exhibits a so-called interference color, and the color changes depending on the viewing angle, but the corresponding portion of the hologram on the information recording medium obtained by forgery using a color copy or scanner This is because it only exhibits a certain color and does not exhibit the interference color of the original hologram seal.

  However, laminating a hologram sticker on a card or the like is not perfect as a forgery prevention measure. If the hologram sticker stacked on a card or the like is peeled off and stacked on another card or the like, the hologram sticker itself is a genuine product even if the intention of stacking is incorrect. This is because it is not sufficient to confirm whether or not. In addition, when information such as the name of the owner or a number assigned to an individual (hereinafter referred to as ID information) is recorded on the surface of the card or the like so as to be visible, the ID information is Since the hologram sticker is laminated avoiding the recorded location, it is not sufficient to check whether the hologram sticker is genuine or not when the alteration is made to rewrite only the ID information. Because.

As a forgery-proof card, a base material, a reflective layer, and a patterned thermotropic polymer liquid crystal layer are formed in this order, and the thermotropic polymer liquid crystal layer is heated and pressed to give liquid crystal properties. A structure in which the pattern of the thermotropic polymer liquid crystal layer can be seen through the film is proposed. (Patent Document 1).
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-122666 (Claim 1).

  The anti-counterfeit card described in Patent Document 1 has a latent image that cannot be seen with the naked eye, and the latent image is visualized through a polarizing film, and a unique color is visible. It is said that the judgment is possible. However, the anti-counterfeit card described in Patent Document 1 also has the same inadequacy against counterfeiting and alteration, as with a card with a laminated hologram sticker, etc., and when confirming whether it is a genuine product. For this, a polarizing film must be used.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an information recording medium capable of solving the inadequacy of forgery prevention or alteration prevention in the above-described prior art as an information recording medium used for applications such as cards. .

  It has been found that the above-described problems of the present invention can be solved by laminating a light selective reflection layer composed of cholesteric liquid crystal on a base material provided with information recording means such as a magnetic recording layer. In addition, it has been found that by disposing an image receiving layer on the light selective reflection layer as needed, it is possible to more reliably dispose of used tickets such as commuter pass tickets for transportation.

According to a first aspect of the present invention for solving the problems, invisible information recording means is provided on the base material, and at least one of the incident light is left circularly polarized light or right circularly polarized light on at least one side of the base material. A light selective reflection layer having a light selective reflection property is reflected, a transparent image receiving layer is laminated on the light selective reflection layer, and a release layer having a space is provided on the surface of the image receiving layer . The present invention relates to an information recording medium.

The second invention is the first invention, an information recording medium, wherein the recording means of the invisible information is a magnetic recording layer or an IC chip.

According to the first invention, since the light selective reflection layer having a hue change depending on the viewing angle is laminated, it is possible to provide an information recording medium that can be confirmed to be genuine by visual observation. . Furthermore, since a transparent image receiving layer is laminated on the light selective reflection layer, an information recording medium capable of printing using the image receiving layer can be provided. Furthermore, since a release layer having a gap is provided on the surface of the image receiving layer, an information recording medium capable of smoothly running between the printing means that comes into contact with printing on the image receiving layer is provided. Can be provided.

According to a second aspect of the invention, in addition to the effect of the first invention, since the recording means of the invisible information is a magnetic recording layer or an IC chip, it can be easily utilized either writing and reading of data Information recording medium can be provided.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a basic laminated structure of an information recording medium of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a view showing a laminated structure of the information recording medium of the present invention in which an image receiving layer is laminated. FIG. 3 is a view showing a laminated structure of the information recording medium of the present invention with a release layer on the image receiving layer. FIG. 4 is a view showing a laminated structure of the information recording medium of the present invention in which a protective layer is laminated on the opposite side to the laminated light selective reflection layer.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a basic laminated structure of an information recording medium 1 of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 1A, a magnetic recording layer 3 is laminated on the lower surface of the substrate 2 in the drawing. The light selective reflection layer 4 is laminated on the upper surface of the substrate 2 in the figure. The light selective reflection layer 4 may be a continuous layer as illustrated in FIG. 1A, but it is a discontinuity made up of a collection of fine parts separated from each other as shown in FIG. May be a typical layer. For example, characters or arbitrary patterns formed by using halftone dots or geometric shapes are applicable, and such items are also included in the range of the light selective reflection layer 4. Here, the light selective reflection layer 4 has light selective reflectivity for reflecting either left circularly polarized light or right circularly polarized light in incident light.

  The base material 2 has strength and thickness according to the use, and is composed of a plastic film, a plastic sheet, paper, or the like, and is a composite of two or three sheets as required. Also good. An appropriate pattern, symbol, character or the like may be applied to the substrate 2 by a technique such as printing. For example, information such as an issuing organization name, a card name, a cautionary note, an explanatory note, or an amount for use as a cash voucher, an arbitrary pattern, or a color pattern may be provided. The formation of the information, design, or chromatic pattern can be performed by any means such as printing, and the portion to be formed may be a portion where the light selective reflection layer 4 is provided. When the IC chip is provided on the base material 2, it is preferable to exclude the place where the IC chip is provided as the place where the information, the design, or the color pattern is formed. When the magnetic recording layer 3 is provided on the base material 2, if such information, a pattern, or a color pattern is formed between the magnetic recording layer 3 and the base material 2, the magnetic recording layer 3 cannot be seen from the outside. It is preferable to cover the layer 3 or to form such information, a pattern, or a color pattern in a place where the magnetic recording layer 3 is not provided.

  In the above, as the plastic of the plastic film or plastic sheet constituting the substrate 2, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polycarbonate, polyvinyl alcohol, polysulfone, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyarylate, triacetyl cellulose (TAC), diacetyl cellulose And various plastics such as polyethylene / vinyl alcohol.

  The magnetic recording layer 3 can record various information as invisible information, reads the recorded information using a reading means, executes a predetermined step, settles the purchase price, deposits or withdraws cash, Or it is for permitting passage of the gate.

  The magnetic recording layer 3 is (1) provided by directly applying to the base material 2 using a magnetic paint prepared by adding a material containing magnetic agent powder and kneading. (2) What is the base material 2? Magnetic recording layer transfer sheet prepared by applying to another thin plastic film, etc., cut into stripes and pasted to the base material 2, or (3) prepared by being detachably laminated on a temporary base material And transferred to the substrate 2 by a transfer method. In addition, as the magnetic recording layer 3, the base material 2 is formed as a thin film of a magnetic substance in a gas phase state by vapor deposition or sputtering of the magnetic substance, or such a thin film is formed on the base 2. It may be performed on a different substrate and then cut and pasted into a stripe shape or applied by transfer.

  The magnetic recording layer 3 may be laminated only on one side of the substrate 2 or may be laminated on both sides of the substrate 2, regardless of whether it is laminated on one side or both sides. 2 may be laminated on the entire surface of 2, or may be laminated on a part of the substrate 2 in a stripe shape or the like. As shown in FIG. 1, the magnetic recording layer 3, the base material 2, and the light selective reflection layer 4 may not be laminated in this order, and the base material 2, the magnetic recording layer 3, and the light selective reflection are not necessarily stacked. The layers 4 may be stacked in this order.

  In the above example, the magnetic recording layer 3 is used as the information recording means. However, the information recording means is not limited to the magnetic recording layer 3 and may be replaced with an IC chip or the like. When the information recording means is an IC chip, the IC chip may be laminated on the outside of the substrate 2, but may be embedded in a recess or a through hole provided in the substrate 2.

  The light selective reflection layer 4 is composed of a cholesteric liquid crystal layer. The cholesteric liquid crystal layer in the aligned state has a property of reflecting only one of left circularly polarized light and right circularly polarized light in incident light. Also, it has an effect that the hue looks different depending on the viewing angle. The light selective reflection layer 4 can be formed by applying a solvent solution of cholesteric liquid crystal by various printing methods and drying it. Alternatively, at this time, an ultraviolet polymerizable composition can be formed using a polymerizable cholesteric liquid crystal. The ultraviolet polymerizable composition prepared and obtained can be applied by various printing methods, and after drying, it can be polymerized by irradiation with ultraviolet rays. The light selective reflection layer 4 made of a cholesteric liquid crystal layer has transparency, except that the hue looks different depending on the viewing angle, and is transparent in that sense.

  In order to realize the alignment state of the cholesteric liquid crystal layer, it is only necessary to apply a UV curable composition prepared using a solvent solution of cholesteric liquid crystal or a polymerizable cholesteric liquid crystal to the surface of the stretched plastic sheet. A stretched plastic sheet may be selected as the material constituting the material and applied thereon. Alternatively, after forming an alignment film on the surface of the substrate 2, an ultraviolet polymerizable composition prepared by using a cholesteric liquid crystal solvent solution or a polymerizable cholesteric liquid crystal may be applied. The light selective reflection layer 2 may be configured as a single layer, but may be configured as a multilayer of two or more layers. When the light selective reflection layer 2 is composed of multiple layers, the thickness of each layer, the helical pitch of the material, etc. can be varied to give more complicated optical characteristics. Alternatively, since the light selective reflection layer 2 can be formed in a pattern, when the light selective reflection layer 2 is composed of multiple layers, one may be formed as a uniform layer and the other may be formed in a pattern.

Examples of the polymerizable cholesteric liquid crystal material include compounds represented by the following general formula (1) and compounds represented by the formulas (2) to (10). These examples are monomers, but may be oligomers or polymers. Two or more kinds selected from the compounds represented by the general formula (1) and the compounds represented by the formulas (2) to (10) are used in combination of two or more compounds represented by the general formula (1) You may use together.

In the above general formula (1), R ¹ and R ² each represent hydrogen or a methyl group, and X is preferably a chlorine or methyl group. Moreover, it is preferable when a and b which show the chain length of the alkylene group which is a spacer of the compound represented by General formula (1) are the range of 2-9 to express liquid crystallinity.

You may mix | blend the chiral agent represented by following formula (11)-formula (13) with said liquid crystalline compound.

In the above formula (11), R ³ represents hydrogen or a methyl group. In the above formulas (11) and (12), Y is any one of formulas (i) to (xxiv) represented by the following formulas (14) and (15). In the above formulas (11) to (13), c, d, and e, which indicate the chain length of the alkylene group, are preferably in the range of 2 to 9 in terms of exhibiting liquid crystallinity.

  The above-mentioned cholesteric liquid crystal material and chiral agent include, as an example, an ultraviolet polymerization initiator, further a solvent and a diluent, as an example, cholesteric liquid crystal material: chiral agent: ultraviolet polymerization initiator = 100: 5: 5 (mass basis) It is preferable to prepare a coating solution having a concentration of about 30% by mass by mixing at a blending ratio of 2 and dissolving the powder obtained by mixing using a solvent such as toluene. The blending ratio can be appropriately determined depending on the type of cholesteric liquid crystal material, chiral agent, or ultraviolet polymerization initiator to be used, the coating method or coating machine, or the desired coating amount.

  When an alignment film is necessary for the purpose of realizing the alignment state of the cholesteric liquid crystal layer, any alignment film can be used as long as it can be used as an alignment film, such as polyvinyl alcohol resin (PVA) or polyimide resin. It may be formed. The alignment film is formed, for example, by applying a solvent solution of these resins to the surface of the substrate 2 by an appropriate application method and drying it, followed by rubbing with a cloth, a brush, or the like. That's fine.

  In the information recording medium 1 of the present invention, the image receiving layer 5 may be laminated on the light selective reflection layer 4. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the magnetic recording layer 3, the substrate 2, and the light selective reflection layer 4 are laminated in this order from the lower side in the figure, and the image receiving layer 5 is further laminated on the light selective reflection layer 4. It may be.

  The image receiving layer 5 is intended to enhance the printability by imparting adhesiveness to the surface of the information recording medium 1. The image receiving layer 5 can be provided with information that may be applied to the substrate 2, an arbitrary pattern, or a color pattern. 5 may be applied. One preferred use of the image receiving layer 5 is to dispose of used ones such as commuter pass tickets for transportation, and printing appropriate symbols or the like to make alteration difficult. The image receiving layer 5 can be composed of a thermoplastic resin, a thermosetting resin, an ultraviolet curable resin, an electron beam curable resin, or the like, but is configured as a transparent, preferably colorless, transparent layer.

  Since the printing on the image receiving layer 5 and the waste ticket processing by printing are often performed by the thermal printing on the image receiving layer 5 described above, the thermal head, the printing ribbon, and the image receiving layer 5 are subjected to the thermal printing. It is preferable that the surface of the image receiving layer 5 is subjected to a release treatment so as not to cause a trouble in printing due to heat fusion or the like. For this reason, a releasable material such as silicone is blended in the image receiving layer 5 to impart releasability to the image receiving layer, or the surface of the image receiving layer 5 is covered with a material containing the releasable material. The mold layer 6 is preferably laminated (FIG. 3). As a preferable configuration for achieving both thermal printability and releasability, after first forming the image receiving layer 5 having printability and not necessarily releasability, using a material containing a releasable substance, for example, The release layer 6 having the spacing is formed as an image receiving layer by, for example, forming a point having a diameter of about 0.1 mm and a line having a width of about 0.1 mm with an interval of about 0.2 mm or more. When provided on the surface 5, the part having releasability and the part having printability can be closely arranged, and both properties can be provided (FIG. 4).

  A visible information recording layer 7 on which visible information is recorded may be laminated on the surface of the substrate 2 opposite to the side where the light selective reflection layer 4 is laminated. As shown in FIG. 4, the magnetic recording layer 3 and the visible information recording layer 7 may be sequentially laminated on the lower surface of the substrate 2. Visible information is information such as an appropriate pattern, symbol, character, and the like, for example, a printed layer formed by a technique such as printing. The contents of the visible information may be anything, but examples include notes and explanations.

  The visible information recording layer 7 is preferably covered with a protective layer, and a protective layer is further laminated on the lower surface side of the visible information recording layer 7 described with reference to FIG. The protective layer can be constituted by using a material similar to the material constituting the image receiving layer 5.

  In the information recording medium 1 of the present invention, the light selective reflection layer 4 is basically laminated on one side of the base material 2, and the light selective reflection layer 4 has an effect that the hue changes depending on the viewing angle. Since copying by copying is difficult and gives an impression that it is difficult, there is an effect of preventing forgery. Since the light selective reflection layer 4 has an effect that the hue changes depending on the viewing angle, it can be confirmed that the light selective reflection layer 4 is genuine. However, the light selective reflection layer 4 further includes left circularly polarized light or right circular light in the incident light. Since it has light selective reflectivity to reflect either polarized light, it can be selected by entering left circularly polarized light or right circularly polarized light, more simply by overlapping left circularly polarizing plate or right circularly polarizing plate. In accordance with the characteristics of the reflective layer 4, when one of the circularly polarized light is incident, or when any one of the circularly polarizing plates is overlapped, it is confirmed that reflection does not occur, and in the other case, It is also possible to determine the authenticity of the information recording medium 1 with higher certainty.

  Magnetic paint (barium ferrite: urethane resin: carbon = 36: 12: 2 50% toluene: MEK: MIBK = 10: 15: 15 solution was applied to the surface of a PET film having a thickness of 188 μm and dried, and the temperature; The magnetic recording layer was formed by aging at 80 ° C. Next, an ultraviolet curable cholesteric liquid crystal paint was applied to the opposite surface of the PET film and dried, followed by curing by irradiating with an ultraviolet ray to obtain a cholesteric liquid crystal layer. Here, the ultraviolet curable cholesteric liquid crystal paint is a polymerizable nematic liquid crystal (manufactured by BASF Corp., trade name: “Palio Color LC242”), a chiral agent (manufactured by BASF Corp., trade name: “ Paliocolor LC756 ") and a 20% solution of a blended UV polymerization initiator (the solvent is toluene). Among these, the blending ratio of the polymerizable nematic liquid crystal / chiral agent is 95.5 / 4.5, and 5% of the ultraviolet polymerization initiator is blended with respect to the polymerizable nematic liquid crystal.

  A magnetic paint solution (barium ferrite: urethane resin: carbon = 36: 12: 2 50% toluene: MEK: MIBK = 10: 15: 15 solution was applied to the surface of a PET film having a thickness of 188 μm and dried, and the temperature was Aging was performed at 80 ° C. to form a magnetic recording layer.

  A cholesteric liquid crystal layer is formed on the surface of a PET film having a thickness of 25 μm different from the above PET film in the same manner as in Example 1 to produce a cholesteric liquid crystal layer transfer sheet. This cholesteric liquid crystal layer transfer sheet The cholesteric liquid crystal layer was transferred to the side of the laminate of the PET film and magnetic recording layer where the magnetic recording layer was not formed, and the PET film of the transfer sheet was peeled off.

  A release varnish composed of an acrylic resin solution is applied to the surface of a PET film having a thickness of 25 μm to form a release layer. A polyimide resin solution is applied onto the release layer and dried, followed by rubbing. Alignment was performed to form an alignment film, and then a cholesteric liquid crystal layer transfer sheet was prepared by forming a cholesteric liquid crystal layer on the alignment film.

  In the same manner as in Example 1, a laminated sheet in which a cholesteric liquid crystal layer / PET film / magnetic recording layer was laminated in order was prepared, and the surface on which the magnetic recording layer was formed was explained on the surface of the magnetic recording layer. A sentence is printed, and a protective layer is further laminated using a urethane acrylate resin solution. On the cholesteric liquid crystal layer, a polyurethane resin solution (in the solid content, main agent / curing agent / wax = 400/20/9. .) Was applied, dried and aged to form an image receiving layer.

  In the same manner as in Example 2, a laminated sheet in which a cholesteric liquid crystal layer / PET film / magnetic recording layer was laminated in order was prepared, and the surface on which the magnetic recording layer was formed was explained on the surface of the magnetic recording layer. A sentence is printed, and a protective layer is further laminated using a urethane acrylate resin solution. On the cholesteric liquid crystal layer, a polyurethane resin solution (in the solid content, main agent / curing agent / wax = 400/20/9. .) Was applied, dried and aged to form an image receiving layer.

It is a figure which shows the basic laminated structure of a thermosensitive recording medium. It is a figure which shows the laminated structure of the thermosensitive recording medium which has an image receiving layer. It is a figure which shows the laminated structure of the thermal recording medium which has an image receiving layer and a release layer. Furthermore, it is a figure which shows the laminated structure of the thermosensitive recording medium which has a visible information recording layer.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Thermal recording medium 2 ... Base material 3 ... Magnetic recording layer 4 ... Light selective reflection layer 5 ... Image receiving layer 6 ... Release layer 7 ... Visible information recording layer

Claims (2)

Invisible information recording means is provided on the base material, and light having light selective reflectivity that reflects either left circularly polarized light or right circularly polarized light of incident light on at least one side of the base material An information recording medium comprising a selective reflection layer, a transparent image-receiving layer laminated on the light-selective reflection layer, and a release layer having a gap on the surface of the image-receiving layer .   2. The information recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the invisible information recording means is a magnetic recording layer or an IC chip.

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