JPH0755690Y2 - Optical recording card - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial field of application) The present invention relates to an optical recording card, and more specifically, an object thereof is to provide an inexpensive optical recording card in which a lot of information is recorded by a simple method.

(Conventional technology) Conventionally, cash cards, ID cards, telephone cards,
Many cards such as ticket purchase cards are widely used.

Many of these cards have a magnetic recording layer, and the recorded information is read by a telephone or a vending machine and exhibits the same action as cash.

Since it is desirable to record as much information as possible on these cards, various decorations, symbols, characters, etc. are printed on the surface as common information other than magnetic recording.

(Problems that the device is trying to solve) Generally, characters are printed as the common information,
Since the size of the card is small, and the size and number of characters are limited because it is necessary to be readable by the naked eye, there is a problem that more information cannot be recorded.

Of course, as a method of recording more information, it is known to incorporate an IC or a laser light recording layer into a card,
It is costly to apply these to relatively low-priced cards such as telephone cards and ticket purchase cards.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to easily provide an inexpensive card having a lot of information.

(Means for Solving Problems) The above object is achieved by the present invention described below.

That is, the present invention provides an optical recording card in which at least one area of the card has an optical recording area, and information other than the readable characters is recorded in the area due to the difference in light reflectance. An optical recording card, characterized in that the base is made light-reflective or light-absorptive by a printing method, and the above information is recorded by light-absorbing dots or light-reflective dots formed by the printing method. .

(Operation) Combination of fine dots by various printing methods on various surfaces of any of various cards such as a publicly known telephone card and a card for purchasing a train ticket by a difference in light reflectance (or light absorptance) By recording as, it is possible to provide a card in which a large amount of optically readable information is recorded at low cost and in mass production. By recording in this way, even if the recording overlaps with the magnetic recording layer, the action of the magnetic recording layer is not disturbed.

(Embodiment) Next, the present invention will be described more specifically with reference to the accompanying drawings schematically illustrating a preferred embodiment.

FIG. 1 is a view showing the appearance of the optical recording card of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a view schematically showing the AA ′ cross section.

As shown in the figure, the optical recording card 10 of the present invention has an optical recording area 2 in at least one area of the card body 1, and information 3 other than readable characters due to the difference in light reflectance is recorded in the area 2. It is characterized by

In the above, the card body 1 itself may be exactly the same as a conventional telephone card, a ticket purchase card, a prepaid card, a credit card, a bank card, etc., and is not particularly limited.

These known cards generally have a pattern layer 4 such as a picture or a symbol printed on one surface of the main body 1 and a magnetic recording layer 5 formed on the other surface, as shown in FIG. Further, a silver-white or gray layer 6 is formed on the surface of the magnetic recording layer 5 for protection and concealment of the magnetic recording layer 5, and characters 7 for handling instructions and the like are printed on the surface, if necessary.

In the present invention, the configurations of these known cards can be used as they are. For example, if the surface 6 of the card is light-reflective like silver white (formed by silver ink, for example), the Dots, for example, black or the like printing ink, are combined and printed according to a certain standard, dots 3 having various shapes of several μm to 150 μm. The collection of these dots does not have to be letters, and also uses optical reading means (e.g. LEDs as light sources, tungsten lamps, flying spot scanners, etc., while
As long as it can be read by a photodiode, phototransistor, CCD line sensor, etc. for receiving light, a set of minute points will suffice. It is possible to record twice as much information. These pieces of information can be printed by, for example, offset printing, gravure printing, or the like, so that by recording the information at the time of manufacturing the card, inexpensive and mass production is possible.

Further, when recording on a completed card or inputting personal individual information, for example, a convenient printing method such as a dot printer or a thermal printer can be used.

If the base of the optical recording area is light absorbing, the information may be formed by light reflecting dots, for example, white ink or metallic gloss ink.

Further, since the above-mentioned dot recording is formed by the general printing method as described above, even if there is a magnetic recording layer under the base, the performance of the magnetic recording layer is not impaired, and the recording is repeated. can do.

(Effect) As a combination of fine dots, various kinds of information are printed on any surface of conventionally known telephone cards and various types of cards for purchasing passenger tickets by any printing method depending on the difference in light reflectance (or light absorption rate). By recording, a card having a large amount of optically readable information can be recorded inexpensively and in mass production. Further, by recording in this way, even if the recording overlaps with the magnetic recording layer, the function of the magnetic recording layer is not disturbed.

Therefore, as an example, in the case of a ticket purchase card, the owner's address,
A lot of common information such as individual information such as work place, telephone number, timetable of a specific station, shortest route and fare from a specific station to other stations, and event information along the route can be recorded. The readout display makes the information readily available.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing the appearance of the optical recording card of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a view schematically showing the AA ′ cross section. 1: Card body, 2: Optical recording area 3: Dots, 4: Pattern layer 5: Magnetic recording layer, 6: Protective layer 7: Character

Claims (4)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An optical recording card having an optical recording area in at least one area of the card, in which information other than characters that can be read by a difference in light reflectance is recorded. Is made to be light-reflective or light-absorbing depending on the printing method, and the above information is recorded by the light-absorbing dots or light-reflective dots formed by the printing method. 2. The optical recording card according to claim 1, further comprising a magnetic recording layer. 3. The optical recording card according to claim 2, wherein the optical recording area and the magnetic recording layer overlap each other. 4. The optical recording card according to claim (1), which is a prepaid card and is a utility model registration claim.