JPH01218892A - Portable medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable embossed patterns of small letters or the like to be provided with the same level of strength as that of embossed patterns of capitals, by making constant the height of the embossed patterns from the surface of a card base, and causing the height of the embossed pattern from an embossed support part to correspond to the line width of the pattern. CONSTITUTION:In a multi-functional IC card, required embossed patterns 11a, 11b are provided on the surface of a card base 1 by cutting an embossing part formed of a photosensitive resin or the like. At the time of cutting, the height H1 of the embossed pattern 11a of a small letter or the like having a small line width from the upper surface of an embossed support part 10a is set to be small according to the line width of the pattern, whereas the height H2 of the embossed pattern 11b of a capital or the like having a large line width is set to be large according to the line width of the pattern. The height H from the surface of the card base a is a specified constant height, for both kinds of the embossed patterns.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a portable medium such as an IC card, and particularly to an embossed pattern (for example, letters) thereof.

(Prior art) To explain a portable medium using an IC card as an example, I
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the C card has an LSI chip (not shown) constituting a CPU and memory built into a pocket-sized card base material 1 made of plastic or the like, and has a chip on the surface of the card base material 1. A contact 2 is provided for transmitting and receiving data with an external device such as a reader/writer, and for inputting power. According to the 15O (International Organization for Standardization) standard, the thickness of the card base material 1 is specified to be 0.76 mm, and its length and width are also specified to predetermined dimensions. Further, the IC card is designed to be used in combination with existing magnetic cards, and for example, a magnetic stripe 3 and necessary embossed characters 4 are coexisted on the surface of the card base material 1.

FIG. 7 shows a conventional method for producing embossed characters and the like on the card base material 1 of such an IC card. 7th
In the figure, 5 is a male die and 6 is a female die. The female die 6 is placed on the front side of the card base material 1, and the male die 5 presses the card base material 1 upward from the back side. The required embossed characters 4 are created on the surface.

The embossed characters created in this way are thick (divided into 10 characters per inch and 7 characters per inch).
Two pitches of letters are used: large and small. These two types of letters (hereinafter referred to as lowercase and uppercase letters, respectively)
The thickness of the letters (patterns) also differ, with uppercase letters being thicker and lowercase letters being thinner. Furthermore, according to JIS standard B-9560, the height of the embossed characters from the card base material surface is 0 in the first area corresponding to the first line L1 shown in FIG.
．． 48 (100 to -0,05) mm1 In the second region of the portion including the second and third lines L2 and L3, the height of the embossed characters from the card base material surface is 0.48 (+0 to -0.
071) mm. However, while the first area is limited to uppercase letters only, the second area allows the use of both uppercase and lowercase letters.

Incidentally, recently, as shown in FIG.
A multi-functional IC card (hereinafter referred to as a multi-functional TC card) has been developed in which the internal CPU can be operated manually to check recorded contents without using a writer or the like. However, in such a multi-function IC card, if the male die 5 is pressed against the back side, the keyboard 7 etc. built into the back side will be destroyed.
It is not possible to press up the card base material 1 from the back side with the male mold 5 and form an embossed pattern including embossed characters on the front surface thereof.

So 1. As a means of creating a desired embossed pattern on the surface of the card base material without applying mechanical impact to the card base material, photosensitive resin or the like is applied to the desired position on the card base material.
An embossed portion of an appropriate size is formed in advance, and this embossed portion is cut to a certain depth using a cutting device so as to be embossed, and then placed on the card base material at a predetermined height from the surface of the card base material as described above. A method of forming an embossed pattern having the following characteristics has been considered.

Here, the embossed pattern refers to a pattern such as letters formed by convex stripes of cured adhesive or resin as described above, and refers to a pattern similar in appearance to the embossed pattern formed by the above-mentioned embossing. It refers to

When a multifunctional IC card has the above-mentioned embossed pattern formed on the surface of the card base material, the embossed pattern is imprinted by an imprinter when the card is used for shopping, withdrawal of money, etc., just like a magnetic card. A record is created.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) Conventionally, regardless of the embossed pattern of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, etc., the embossed part is cut to a certain depth and the embossed pattern of the same height is formed on the embossing base part. As a result, lowercase letters with thinner pattern thicknesses have lower strength than letters with thicker pattern thicknesses, and may be damaged during imprinting.

This invention was made based on the above circumstances, and even for embossed patterns such as lowercase letters where the pattern thickness becomes thinner, it is possible to maintain the height from the card base material surface specified by the JIS standard while applying external force. An object of the present invention is to provide a portable medium that can provide the same strength as an embossed pattern such as a capital letter.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the present invention forms an embossed pattern on the surface of a card base material through an embossing base, and the embossed pattern The gist is that the height from the surface of the card base material is constant and the height from the embossing platform is formed to a height corresponding to the pattern thickness of the embossed pattern.

(Function) In the above configuration, for embossed patterns such as lowercase letters where the pattern thickness becomes thinner, the height from the embossed base part remaining on the card base material when the embossed part is cut is formed to be low. , the same strength as that of an embossed pattern such as a thick capital letter is given to the external force.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 1 to 3.

First, to explain the structure of a multi-function IC card as a portable medium, as mentioned above, a multi-function IC card has a keyboard etc. built into the back side, so it is embossed on the front side by embossing from the back side. Unable to form a pattern. For this reason, a desired embossed pattern is formed on the surface of the card base material 1 in the multifunctional IC card by cutting an embossed portion made of photosensitive resin or the like.

FIG. 1 shows the embossed patterns 11a and 11b formed in this way in a cross-sectional view in the short side direction. The embossing base portion remaining as the adhesive base with material 1 is shown. In this embodiment, for an embossed pattern 11a such as a small letter whose pattern thickness is thin, the height Hl from the top surface of the embossing stand 10a is formed to be low corresponding to the pattern thickness; , an embossed pattern 11b such as a capital letter with a thicker pattern thickness
, the height Hl from the top surface of the embossing stand 10b
is formed so that the height corresponds to the pattern thickness. In this way, both embossed patterns 11a
, 11b, by adjusting the thickness of the embossing base parts 10a and 10b, the height H from the card base 1 surface can be adjusted to the pattern thickness while maintaining the fixed height defined as described above. The thin embossed pattern 11a is formed with a small height Hl, and the embossed pattern 1 with a thick pattern thickness.
1b is formed to have a high height Hl.

The method for producing the embossed patterns 11a and 11b is as follows:
As shown in FIG. 2, first, a photosensitive resin is applied to the required thickness on the card base material 1 by a spin code method, etc., and after being precured, photoetching is performed to form the card base material. An embossed portion 12 of a required size is formed at a required position on 1.

After photo-etching, the embossed part 12 is accelerated in hardening by UV irradiation, etc., and the thickness after hardening is 0.48 mm.
It is designed to be.

Next, the card base material 1 prepared as described above is fixed on a table (not shown) in a cutting device, and the embossed portion 12 is cut. In FIG. 2, 13 is a spindle rotated by a motor (not shown), and a cutter for cutting is attached to the tip of the spindle 13. In the cutting device, the cutting position control unit controls the X of the table.
The movement of the cutter in the axial direction, the Y-axis direction, and the Z-axis direction, that is, the engraving direction, is controlled, and the cutter is rotated by a motor together with the spindle 13 to cut the embossed part 12,
A desired embossed pattern such as letters is formed in relief.

FIG. 3 shows an example in which an embossed pattern 11 consisting of the number "1" is formed on the embossing base portion 10 remaining on the card base material 1 as an adhesive base.

During the above-mentioned cutting process, if the size of the character patterns formed in each line is different as shown in Fig. 4, the amount of cutting in the engraving direction is increased for larger character patterns to form an embossed pattern. The height of the pattern 11b is increased.

On the other hand, for small character patterns, the amount of cutting in the engraving direction is reduced to reduce the height of the embossed pattern 11.

Since the portable medium of this embodiment is configured as described above, even for the embossed pattern 11a such as small letters with a thin pattern thickness, the embossed pattern 11a such as large letters etc. with a thick pattern thickness can withstand external force. It is given the same strength as the pattern 11b, and the risk of breakage is significantly reduced even if a strong external force is applied during imprinting or the like. Therefore, the patterns of both uppercase and lowercase letters are clearly projected by imprinting.

[Effect of the Invention 1 As explained above, according to the present invention, for embossed patterns such as lowercase letters whose pattern thickness is thin,
When the embossed part is cut, the height from the embossed base part remaining on the card base material is made low, so the height from the card base material surface remains at a specified constant height. It has the advantage that it can provide the same strength against external forces as an embossed pattern such as a thicker capital letter. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate the risk of damage when a strong external force is applied, such as during imprinting.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 3 show embodiments of the portable medium according to the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view in the short side direction of an embossed pattern formed on a card base material, and FIG. Figure 3 is a perspective view showing an example of the created embossed pattern, and Figure 4 shows the surface of the multifunctional IC card. A plan view, FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the front surface of a conventional IC card, FIG. 6 is a side view of the conventional example, and FIG. 7 is a perspective view for explaining a method for producing an embossed pattern in the conventional example. , FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the back side of another conventional IC card. 1: Card base material, 10.10a, 10b: Emboss base, 11a: Embossed pattern with thin pattern thickness, 11b=Embossed pattern with thick pattern thickness.

Claims (1)

[Claims] An embossed pattern is formed on the surface of a card base material through an embossing base part, and the height of the embossed pattern from the surface of the card base material is constant, and the height from the embossing base part is set to be the same as that of the embossed pattern. A portable medium characterized by being formed at a height corresponding to the thickness of a pattern.