JPH07320016A - Noncontact card - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a noncontact card which causes no print unevenness on its surface. CONSTITUTION:This card consists of a substrate layer 10 in which a plane type coil 13 receiving and sending a radio wave is formed and surface layers which are laminated on the top and rear surfaces of the substrate layer 10, and the outer shell of the wire in the outermost periphery constituting the plane coil 13 is made nearly match with the outer shell of the substrate layer 10. And, resin is charged in the gap between wires constituting the plane type coil 13 and the substrate layer 10 is made equal in thickness. Consequently, the print surfaces of the noncontact card (surfaces of surface layers) are flattened and no print unevenness is caused.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a contactless card capable of transmitting and receiving information (contactlessly) using radio waves as a medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a management system using an ID card in which personal identification information is recorded has been developed in order to ensure the security of a predetermined area. Generally, in this type of management system, when the owner of the ID card contacts the magnetic stripe provided on the ID card with the sensor unit of the reading device, the magnetic information recorded on the stripe is read and read. ID according to the information
It limits the entry of the card holder (entrant). Further, in the case of performing more strict security management, a photograph of the owner's face or the like may be printed on the ID card for use.

On the other hand, there is known a system in which a small transmission / reception device having an antenna (coil) is used in place of an ID card for security management or position management of the owner (object) of the device. According to this system, since it is possible to transmit and receive information using radio waves, the owner of the transmitter / receiver only needs to carry the device and does not need to touch the sensor unit of the reading device. Become.

[0004]

By the way, of the above-mentioned entry management systems, in the former system, the owner needs to take out the ID card and bring it into contact with the sensor section of the reading device, which is troublesome. . In addition, the latter system has a coil that is difficult to miniaturize, although it does not require such a labor, and therefore has a JIS-compliant credit card (a credit card with a magnetic stripe has a maximum thickness of 0.8 mm). It was extremely difficult to realize as (specified).

The inability to convert to a credit card means that the transmitting / receiving device and other credit cards cannot be integrated, and there is a problem that the manager needs to carry a plurality of devices or cards. It was happening. This runs counter to the current technological trend of increasing the functionality by integrating the functions of various cards such as IC cards.

Even if a transceiver having a coil can be made into a credit card, printing various information on the front and back surfaces of the credit card causes uneven printing. The reason will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the schematic configuration of a general credit card, and the thickness of the credit card shown in this diagram is 0.76 mm. In FIG. 3, 1
Is a substrate layer made of a white vinyl chloride resin having a thickness of about 0.5 mm, and 2 and 3 are surface layers made of a transparent vinyl chloride resin having a thickness of about 0.1 mm. As described above, a general credit card is formed by laminating the surface layers 2 and 3 on both sides of the substrate layer. Information such as a magnetic stripe, a print display portion, embossed characters, and a facial photograph is printed on the front surface 2a of the surface layer 2, for example.

A coil 4 of a transmitter / receiver, an example of which is shown in FIG.
Will be formed in the substrate layer 1 having a thickness of about 0.5 mm. Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the thickness of the card is different between the portion where the coil exists and the portion where the coil does not exist. That is, unevenness occurs on the printing surface of the card, which causes uneven printing. Furthermore, I
In the case of the D card, different information such as a facial photograph may be printed on each card, and thus printing is generally performed by a thermal transfer method. In the thermal transfer printing, since the hard print head 5 contacts the print surface of the hard card via the ink ribbon 6, even if slight unevenness exists on the print surface of the card, clear print unevenness occurs. Will occur.

As described above, it is extremely difficult to make a contactless card that transmits and receives information in a contactless manner, and even if it can be realized, the flatness of the card surface cannot be maintained. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a non-contact card in which printing unevenness does not occur on the card surface.

[0009]

A contactless card according to claim 1 is a contactless card having a multi-layer structure which emits a radio wave according to information stored in a storage means in the card, and transmits the radio wave. Having a substrate layer on which a spiral planar coil is formed, and forming a pattern layer with a thickness equal to that of the planar coil on the coil-unformed portion of the substrate layer to flatten the front and back surfaces of the card. Is characterized by. A non-contact card according to a second aspect of the present invention is the non-contact card according to the first aspect, wherein the outermost contour of the planar coil is substantially matched with the contour of the substrate layer.

A non-contact card according to a third aspect of the present invention is the non-contact card according to the first aspect, wherein a gap between the wirings forming the planar coil and a gap between the planar coil and the filling pattern layer are provided. It is characterized in that the substrate layer is filled with resin so that the substrate layer has the same thickness. A non-contact card according to a fourth aspect is the non-contact card according to the second aspect, characterized in that the gap between the wirings forming the planar coil is filled with resin to make the substrate layer have an equal thickness. There is.

[0011]

According to the non-contact card of the present invention, a pattern layer having the same thickness as the planar coil is formed in the coil non-forming portion of the substrate layer on which the spiral planar coil is formed. 1). Further, a resin is filled in a gap between the wirings forming the planar coil and a gap between the planar coil and the filled pattern layer so that the substrate layer has an equal thickness (claim 3). Alternatively, the outermost contour of the planar coil is configured to substantially match the contour of the substrate layer (claim 2). Further, a resin is filled in the gap between the wirings forming the planar coil so that the substrate layer has the same thickness (claim 4). Therefore, the front and back surfaces of the multi-layered card including the substrate layer are flattened.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In addition, the non-contact card according to the present embodiment,
The difference from the general credit card shown in FIG. 3 is that
Since only the structure of the substrate layer is provided, the present embodiment will be described below focusing on the structure of the substrate layer.

First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1A is a partial cross-sectional view showing the structure of the substrate layer 10 of the non-contact card according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a front view of the substrate layer 10 of the non-contact card. It is a figure, and in these figures, the same reference numerals are given to common portions.

As shown in FIG. 1A, the substrate layer 10 is
The conductive layer 12a is on the upper surface of the substrate 11, and the conductive layer 12b is on the lower surface.
The printed circuit board on which is formed is molded, and is formed by etching the conductive layers 12a and 12b to form a predetermined circuit pattern. As shown in FIG. 1B, the circuit pattern formed here is composed of spiral wiring (hatched portion in the drawing) to form a planar coil.

The outer contour of the outermost wiring which constitutes the planar coil substantially coincides with the outer contour of the printed circuit board (outer contour of the non-contact card). Further, during the etching, the distance between the adjacent wirings is several tens of μm (about 60 μm in this embodiment).
The width of the outermost wiring is different depending on the shape of the printed circuit board in order to be constant in m). For example, the area corresponding to the corner of the non-contact card is wide and the area near the long side of the card is narrow. Of course, even if it is narrow, it is much wider than the width of the wiring other than the outermost periphery (about 60 μm).

Further, a through hole 14 is provided at the end of the outermost wiring which constitutes the planar coil.
It is electrically connected to the terminal end portion of the outermost wiring forming the planar coil formed on the back surface of the substrate 11. Furthermore, the inner peripheral side end of the wiring forming the planar coil is connected to the IC provided in the central portion of the substrate 11. This also applies to the planar coil on the back surface of the substrate 11, and is electrically connected to the IC through the through hole 15.

That is, the IC is connected with a planar coil 13 formed by serially connecting a planar coil formed on the front surface of the substrate 11 and a planar coil formed on the back surface thereof. The IC stores the information for identifying the owner, operates by the electric power obtained from the radio wave received by the coil, and responds to the stored information based on the command shown in the radio wave. Flat coil 1
3 is to be supplied.

Then, in the substrate layer 10, a gap between the wirings forming the planar coil 13 and the wirings and the ICs.
A resin having excellent fluidity, such as an epoxy resin, is filled in the gap between them, and the resin having a thickness exceeding the thickness of the planar coil 13 is scraped off. At this time, since the outermost portion of the outermost wiring forming the planar coil 13 substantially matches the outer portion of the printed circuit board, almost all the gaps can be filled with the resin. By performing this operation on the front side and the back side of the substrate 11, the resin layer 16 is formed and the front side and the back side of the substrate layer 10 are smoothed. When a non-contact card is formed by joining surface layers to both surfaces of the substrate layer 10 formed in this way, and when a face photograph or the like is printed on the surface, the card surface becomes flat, which may cause uneven printing. Absent.

Next, a second embodiment according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 2A is a partial sectional view showing the structure of the substrate layer 20 of the non-contact card according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2B is a front view of the substrate layer 20 of the non-contact card. FIG. 1A and FIG.
The same parts as those in (b) are designated by the same reference numerals.

The portion of the contactless card substrate layer 20 according to the second embodiment that is different from the substrate layer 10 according to the first embodiment is replaced by a planar coil 13 and a planar coil 21 and a pattern layer 22 filled up. Is formed, and the position of the through hole 14 is changed. In the second embodiment, FIG.
As shown in (b), a planar coil composed of spiral-shaped wirings of uniform width (about 60 μm) and an outer periphery that matches the outer periphery of the printed circuit board and an inner periphery is an outermost periphery that constitutes the planar coil. And the filled pattern layer 22 spaced apart from the wiring by a predetermined distance (about 60 μm). Furthermore, the substrate 1
A through hole 14 is provided at the outer peripheral side end of the wiring forming the planar coil on the front surface and the back surface, and both are connected in series to configure a planar coil 21. In the flat coil 21, the distance between adjacent wirings is about 60 μm as in the flat coil 13.

In this way, when the planar coil 21 and the filled pattern layer 22 are formed, the gap to be filled with the resin is always in the filled pattern layer 22. That is, there is no gap through which the resin leaks. Therefore,
The resin is accurately filled, and the surface of the substrate layer 20 is surely smoothed. Therefore, the surface of the non-contact card is also flattened. Therefore, in printing a photograph or the like, print unevenness does not occur on the front and back surfaces of the card.

As described above, according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention, since the antenna is constructed by using the planar coils 13 and 21, the contactless card is thin. You can Therefore, the function of another card can be added by providing a magnetic stripe or the like of another credit card. That is, it is possible to have multiple functions.

Also, the conductive layers 12a, 1 of the printed circuit board
By leaving the outer portion of 2b as a wide pattern, the front and back surfaces of the non-contact card can be easily flattened. Furthermore, by filling the gap between the patterns with resin, the substrate layers 10 and 20 can be smoothed, and the front and back surfaces of the non-contact card can be surely flattened. Therefore, printing unevenness does not occur in printing on the surface of the non-contact card. Further, since the planar coils are formed on the front surface and the back surface of the printed circuit board and are connected to be used as the planar coils 13 and 21, the number of turns of the coil can be increased.

Furthermore, according to the first embodiment, since the outer pattern is also used as a part of the planar coil 13, the number of turns of the coil can be further increased. Further, according to the second embodiment, the filled pattern layer 22
Is formed separately from the planar coil 21, the filled pattern layer 22 can be formed so as to surround the planar coil 21. Therefore, there is no gap through which the filled resin flows out, and the resin can be filled with reliability. That is, the substrate layer 20 is surely smoothed, and the flatness of the non-contact card can be improved. In addition,
In the above-described first and second embodiments, the contactless card has a three-layer structure, but it goes without saying that a multi-layer structure other than three layers may be used.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A pattern layer having a thickness equal to that of the planar coil is formed in the coil non-forming portion of the substrate layer on which the spiral planar coil is formed, or the outermost outer contour of the planar coil is the substrate. Since it is configured so as to substantially coincide with the outer contour of the layer, the front and back surfaces of the multi-layered card including the substrate layer are flattened (claims 1 and 2).

Further, resin is filled in the gaps between the wirings forming the planar coil, the gaps between the planar coil and the filled pattern layer, or the gaps between the wirings forming the planar coil. Since the substrate layer has the same thickness, the flattening is surely performed. (Claim 3,
4). In this way, since the front and back surfaces of the card having a multi-layer structure including the substrate layer are flattened, there is an effect that uneven printing can be prevented (claims 1 to 4).

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 (a) is a partial cross-sectional view showing the structure of a substrate layer 10 of a contactless card according to a first embodiment of the present invention, (b).
[Fig. 3] is a view of the same layer 10 viewed from the front side.

2A is a partial cross-sectional view showing the structure of a substrate layer 20 of a contactless card according to a second embodiment of the present invention, FIG.
[Fig. 4] is a view of the same layer 20 viewed from the front side.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a general credit card.

FIG. 4 is an external view of a general coil 4.

FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view for explaining a printing process on a credit card.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 10 and 20 Substrate layer 11 Substrate 12a and 12b Conductive layer 13 and 21 Planar coil 16 Resin layer 22 Filled pattern layer

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A non-contact card having a multi-layer structure that emits a radio wave according to information stored in a storage means in the card, the card having a substrate layer on which a spiral planar coil for transmitting the radio wave is formed. A non-contact card characterized in that a pattern layer having a thickness equal to that of the planar coil is formed in a non-coil forming portion of the substrate layer to flatten the front and back surfaces of the card. 2. The non-contact card according to claim 1, wherein the outermost contour of the planar coil is substantially matched with the contour of the substrate layer. 3. A resin is filled in a gap between wirings forming the planar coil and a gap between the planar coil and the filling pattern layer, and the substrate layer is made to have an equal thickness. The contactless card according to Item 1. 4. The contactless card according to claim 2, wherein a resin is filled in a gap between the wirings forming the planar coil so that the substrate layer has an equal thickness.