JPH07320258A - Magnetic card - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a thermal fusion printing type magnetic card of a structure provided with security to permit easy discrimination of authenticity of a magnetic card at a low cost. CONSTITUTION:This magnetic card 8 is provided with a magnetic layer 2 for executing magnetic recording and a fusion layer 4 for executing thermal fusion printing as main constituting elements on its base material 1. Such magnetic card 8 of the thermal fusion printing type is provided with a ground surface layer 6 for facilitating working of the fusion layer 4 to permit more efficient reading of printing under the fusion layer 4 bearing a printing function. This ground surface layer 6 is partly or wholly printed with patterns 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the structure of a magnetic card of the hot-melt printing type.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a conventional heat-melt printing type magnetic card is provided with a magnetic layer 2 on a base material 1 and directly or on the opposite side of the base material 1. An underlayer 6 is provided on the surface, and a melt layer 4 for printing is provided on the underlayer 6.
If necessary, the protective layer 3 is processed on the magnetic layer and the molten layer (in FIG. 3, the magnetic layer also serves as the underlayer). Generally, the molten layer 4 is formed of a vapor-deposited film of a metal having a low melting point such as tin. The base layer 6 is made of a material having a color tone different from that of the melted layer 4 or the protective layer 3 by a method such as coating or vapor deposition. By heating from above the protective layer 3 on the melted layer 4 side with a thermal head or the like, a part of the melted layer 4 is melted into a shape such as characters and figures, and the opposite side of the base layer or the base material under the melted part. Characters and patterns are made to stand out due to the difference between the color tone of the back surface of the magnetic layer 2 and the color tone of the protective layer 3 on the melted layer 4 side or the melted layer 4 in the unmelted portion.

[0003]

As described above, in the conventional card of this type, the visible printing function is information to the user (for example, the balance of the prepaid card or the actual usage record).
Was to provide. In recent years, the use of magnetic cards has a wide range of uses, and in many cases, a security function is required particularly for counterfeiting and forgery. However, in order to further increase the security function, complicated recording of the magnetic card requires an expensive reading device that can perform complicated processing, and other functions such as a bar code are added to the magnetic card. However, there is a problem in that it requires a reading device that is compatible with the above and is expensive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, however, an object of the present invention to provide a heat-melt printing type magnetic card which solves the above-mentioned problems and which has a structure which is inexpensive and has a security which can easily discriminate the authenticity of the magnetic card. .

[0005]

According to the present invention, as a main constituent element, a magnetic layer for magnetic recording and a melting layer for hot-melt printing are provided on a base material of a magnetic card. In a heat-melt printing type magnetic card, an underlayer is provided under the melting layer that is responsible for the printing function so that the printing can be read more effectively and the processing of the melting layer is facilitated. It is a magnetic card with a structure in which a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern is printed on all or part of it.

That is, the present invention relates to a magnetic card having a magnetic layer for magnetic recording, a melting layer for hot-melt printing and an underlying layer provided thereunder as main components on a card substrate, The magnetic card is characterized in that a tint block is printed on a part or the entire surface of the underlayer.

[0007]

[Function] This heat melting print type magnetic card can read the print more effectively under the melted layer which is responsible for the printing function,
An underlayer is provided to facilitate the processing of the melted layer, and the magnetic card has a structure in which a tint block is printed on part or all of the underlayer, so when printing with a thermal head, etc. A tint block appears. The authenticity of the magnetic card can be identified by visually checking the tint block. Further, if necessary, by performing image processing by a machine to make a determination, it is possible to determine the authenticity of the card during use and prevent unauthorized use.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a hot-melt printing type magnetic card according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a heat-melting magnetic card according to another embodiment of the present invention. Is.

In the first embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, a magnetic layer 2 for magnetic recording and a melting layer 4 for print recording are arranged on both sides of a base material 1 of a magnetic card 8. It was done. For the magnetic layer 2 for magnetic recording, a magnetic coating material in which a powder of an oxide magnetic material is dispersed in a resin is applied to one surface of a substrate 1 such as polyethylene terephthalate (hereinafter referred to as PET), and a protective layer 3 is formed thereon. It is a processed product. Recording and reproduction is performed by the magnetic head. A base layer 6 is provided on the other surface of the base material 1, and the base layer 6 is well compatible with the base material 1 and is easy to print the tint block 5 and to process the melted layer 4, and is processed on the base layer 6. It is composed of a material having a color tone that causes a difference in color tone between the melted layer 4 and the protective layer 3 on the melted layer 4 when the melted layer 4 is melted and printed in a transparent state by printing on the melted layer 4 . A tint block 5 is printed on the base layer 6 with an ink having a color tone that is visible with respect to the color tone of the base layer 6 and the color tone of the melting layer 4 or the protective layer 3. A metal that melts at a relatively low temperature, such as tin, was processed as a molten layer 4 by vapor deposition or the like. A protective layer 3 made of a material having high chemical resistance and heat resistance is formed on the molten layer 4. In this embodiment, transparent PET is used as the base material 1, black UV curable resin colored black is used as the underlayer 6, and the tint block 5 is
A 0.5 mm pitch diagonal pattern was printed on the entire surface using a white ink. As the molten layer 4, a metal tin vapor deposition film was used. For the protective layer 3, a resin film coated with a transparent and colorless ultraviolet curable resin was used. Characters were printed on this card in a predetermined shape with a thermal head. As a result, the vapor deposition layer of the printed character portion was melted, and the tint block was clearly visible in that portion in the uniform color tone of the tin vapor deposition layer. The printed characters and the tint block in it were visible, and the fake magnetic card without the tint pattern could be identified. In addition, as a result of image processing of the characters and the tint block through the image camera and the micro computer, we were able to distinguish between the legitimate card and the fake card with different tint block.

In this embodiment, an example in which a coating method and a vapor deposition method are used as the respective layers has been described. However, even if the layers of films formed by other methods such as a plating method and a sputtering method are used, The effect of the invention does not change. In addition, the tint block printing was performed on the entire surface, but it was possible to further improve the security effect by printing on a specific portion.

Next, FIG. 2 shows a cross section of a hot-melt printing type magnetic card according to another embodiment of the present invention. In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, a magnetic recording magnetic layer 2 and a print recording melting layer 4 are laminated on one side of a base material 1 of a magnetic card 8. is there. The magnetic layer 2 for magnetic recording is made of a magnetic paint prepared by dispersing oxide magnetic powder in resin.
It is a product obtained by coating and processing one surface of a substrate 1 such as polyethylene terephthalate (hereinafter referred to as PET). On top of that,
It has a good affinity with the magnetic layer 2 and is easy to print the tint block 5 and to process the melted layer 4, and when the melted layer 4 to be processed thereon is heat-printed to melt the melted layer into a transparent state, The underlayer 6 is made of a material having a color tone that causes a large difference in color tone between the molten layer 4 and the protective layer 3 thereon. A tint block 5 is printed on the base layer 6 with an ink having a color tone that is visible with respect to the color tone of the base layer 6 and the color tone of the melting layer 4 or the protective layer 3. A metal that melts at a relatively low temperature, such as tin, was processed as a molten layer 4 by vapor deposition or the like. A protective layer 3 made of a material having high chemical resistance and heat resistance is formed on the molten layer 4. In this embodiment, as the base material 1, transparent PE is used.
Using T, a black UV curable resin was used as the underlayer 6, and a tint pattern of 0.5 mm was printed on the tint block 5 using white ink. As the molten layer 4, a metal tin vapor deposition film was used. For the protective layer 3, a resin film coated with a transparent and colorless ultraviolet curable resin was used. Characters were printed on this card in a predetermined shape with a thermal head.
As a result, the vapor deposition layer of the printed character portion was melted, and the tint block was clearly visible in that portion in the uniform color tone of the tin vapor deposition layer. The printed characters and the tint block in it were visible, and could be distinguished from a fake magnetic card with no tint pattern. In addition, as a result of image processing of the characters and the tint block through the image camera and the micro computer, we were able to distinguish between the legitimate card and the fake card with different tint block.

[0012]

As described above, in the hot-melt printable magnetic card of the present invention, since the tint block is under the melted layer, its presence cannot be normally confirmed, and therefore, when used, that is, by heat printing. The tint block can be displayed, and its authenticity can be distinguished from the tint block shape, color tone, etc., making forgery and alteration difficult. In addition, the tint block can be processed in the process of manufacturing the magnetic card, and can be manufactured at a lower cost than other methods. According to the present invention, it is possible to inexpensively provide a magnetic card of a hot-melt printing type having a high security effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the structure of a hot-melt printing type magnetic card according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a hot-melt printing type magnetic card according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of an example of a conventional heat-melt printing type magnetic card.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the structure of another example of a conventional heat-melt printing type magnetic card.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 (card) substrate 2 (for magnetic recording) magnetic layer 3 protective layer 4 fusion layer 5 tint block 6 underlayer 7 printing layer 8 magnetic card

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A magnetic card comprising, as a main component, a magnetic layer for magnetic recording, a molten layer for hot-melt printing, and an underlying layer provided under the magnetic layer on a card substrate. A magnetic card having a tint block printed on a part or the entire surface.