JPH08295089A - Writable security card, card writer and card reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a low-cost reliable writable security card that eliminates the danger of copying or tampering, and a method for using the card. CONSTITUTION: Thermal markings 12 readable by both a visible light sensor and an infrared sensor, and print markings 13 having the same color as the thermal markings 12 but readable only by the visible sensor are displayed in a predetermined pattern in a matrix of rows and columns of display spots provided on a paper card 11 to which a thermal agent has been applied that increases its rate of absorbing a predetermined infrared wavelength when coloring.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a writable security card, card writer and card reader.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Magnetic cards are mainly used for various prepaid cards such as telephone cards. Magnetic cards are convenient, have a large amount of information, and are easy to use. In addition, there is an IC card in recent years that has a large amount of information. In addition, inexpensive optical reading cards that use special thermal agent coated paper cards have also appeared. Since this optical reading card normally reflects visible rays and infrared rays, it looks white to the human eye and cannot be recognized as a mark. Similarly, the infrared sensor also recognizes it as no mark. Since visible light and infrared rays are absorbed in the thermal mark portion, it can be recognized by the human eye that there is a colored mark, and the infrared sensor also detects that there is a mark.

[0003]

However, since the magnetic card can be easily rewritten, there is a problem in safety. Further, there is a problem that the IC card is expensive. The above optical reading card uses only the thermal mark,
Since it is only read by the infrared sensor, security is very good even if mark expansion and coding are strengthened.
There is a risk of copying or tampering, and it is dangerous to sell as a high-value prepaid card.

Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a safe and writable security card, card writer and card which is inexpensive and is free from the risk of copying or tampering. To provide a leader.

[0005]

The present invention has the following constitution in order to achieve the above object. That is, in the security card according to the present invention, the thermal agent is applied to the display spots arranged in a matrix in rows and columns on a paper card coated with a thermal agent that increases the absorption rate of infrared rays having a predetermined wavelength when the color is developed. It is characterized in that a print mark having the same color as that of the color and a thermal mark are displayed in a required pattern.
Further, the card writer according to the present invention comprises a feed mechanism for feeding a paper card coated with a thermal agent, which increases the absorption rate of infrared rays having a predetermined wavelength when color is developed, and a feed mechanism on the carrier path of the mount by the feed mechanism. And a printing device capable of printing a print mark of the same color as the color of the thermal agent, and a thermal printer which is arranged in parallel with the printing device on the conveyance path and which can display the thermal mark by coloring the thermal agent. The print mark and the thermal mark can be displayed in a required pattern on display spots arranged in a matrix in rows and columns on the paper card. Further, the card reader according to the present invention is characterized in that the thermal agent is applied to display spots arranged in a matrix in rows and columns on a paper card coated with a thermal agent, which increases the absorption rate of infrared rays of a predetermined wavelength when color is developed. A writable security card in which a print mark having the same color as that of the above and a thermal mark are displayed in a required pattern can be mounted, and the visible light is emitted from the light emitting portion on the security card and reflected from the security card. A visible light sensor having a light receiving unit for receiving visible light; a light emitting unit emitting an infrared ray of the predetermined wavelength on the security card; and an infrared sensor having a light receiving unit receiving an infrared ray reflected from the security card. , The visible light sensor detects the print mark and the thermal mark, and the infrared sensor And recognizes the predetermined pattern to detect the thermal mark.

[0006]

[Function] Each display spot has no mark, print mark 1
3 is displayed, and only the thermal mark 12 is displayed in 3 patterns.
It appears in the pattern. However, the reading by the sensor is
As can be seen from the above, when there is no mark, both sensors do not read, when there is a print mark, only the visible light sensor reads, and when there is a thermal mark, both the visible light sensor and the infrared sensor read. There are 3 patterns. Therefore, in the past, 2 ²⁰ ≈ 100,000
Only 0 (20 spots per line) patterns could be displayed, but this time 3 ²⁰ ≈ 348000000
You can display as many as 0 (20 spots per line) patterns,
It is possible to display the pattern 3480 times as much as the conventional one.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows a security card 10.
FIG. The security card 10 uses, for example, the above-mentioned special thermal agent application paper (mounting paper) 11.
A thermal mark 12 (indicated by a double circle in the figure) can be displayed on the display spot of the mount 11 by a thermal printer as usual. The thermal mark 12 can be detected by an infrared sensor, is visible to human eyes, and is also detected by a visible light sensor.

Further, a print mark 13 (indicated by a black circle in the figure) which can be detected by a visible light sensor by an ink ribbon, ink jet or the like can be displayed on the display spot on the mount 11. The print mark 13 is formed by applying printing ink of the same color as the thermal mark on the mount 11 because it is necessary for the human eye to see the same pattern as the thermal mark as described later. Since the agent itself does not change due to heat, infrared rays are reflected as they are, and thus are not detected as marks by the infrared sensor. A predetermined writer is used to display these marks. This writer is composed of, for example, a thermal printer and an inkjet device arranged side by side, and a predetermined mark is displayed according to the data input to the writer at a display spot on the security card 10 which is fed at a fixed size by an appropriate feeding mechanism. The thermal printer and the ink jet device are driven and controlled as described above.

The mark display spot on the mount 11 is 1
For example, 600 points in 20 columns and 30 rows are set on the sheet 11 of mount. According to the processed data, there is no mark on the display spot, only the print mark 13, and the thermal mark 1
Only 3 patterns of 2 marks are displayed. However, the thermal mark 12 also looks to the human eye only in the same way as the printed mark 13, and therefore, the human eye can only discriminate between two patterns, with and without the mark.

The reader of the security card 10 includes a visible light sensor and an infrared sensor. The visible light sensor emits visible light of a predetermined wavelength toward the mount 11, and
It has a light receiving portion for receiving the reflected light from the mount 11. The amount of reflected light of this visible light is smaller in the print mark 13 and the thermal mark 12 than in the unmarked part. Therefore, the visible light sensor can detect both the print mark 13 and the thermal mark 12 as marks. It is preferable that the visible light sensor incorporates a condenser lens in its light emitting portion and light receiving portion in order to avoid disturbance as much as possible, and that the light emitting source emits light having wavelengths as uniform as possible.
Similarly, the infrared sensor also includes a light emitting unit that emits infrared light toward the mount 11, and a light receiving unit that receives reflected light from the mount 11. The amount of reflected infrared light is smaller in the thermal mark 12 portion than in the unmarked portion and the printed mark 13 portion. Therefore, the infrared sensor can detect the thermal mark 12 as a mark, but does not detect the print mark 13 as a mark.

As described above, each display spot is displayed in three patterns of no mark, only the print mark 13 and only the thermal mark 12, but the human eye sees two patterns. However, as can be seen from FIG. 2, the reading by the sensor is neither reading (no printing mark nor thermal mark), only visible light sensor reading (printing mark 13 only), both visible light sensor and infrared sensor. Reading of 3 (only thermal mark 12)
It becomes a pattern. Therefore, in the conventional case, 2 ²⁰ ≈10
Although only 00000 (20 spots per line) patterns could be displayed, this time 3 ²⁰ ≈ 34800
As many patterns as 00000 (20 spots per line) can be displayed, and the pattern can be displayed at 3480 times the conventional pattern.

Therefore, such a large amount of information can be displayed, and for example, the first 10 spots of one line can be assigned to the security code and the latter 10 spots can be assigned to the amount code. Of the 10 security code spots, the previous 4 spots are the store name code, the next 2 spots are the main store,
A number of spots can be assigned to the security code, such as a code for each branch and the latter four spots to the location code of the branch, which can create complicated security. Further, since both the print mark 13 and the thermal mark 12 can be discriminated by human eyes only as visible light marks, the possibility of being copied or tampered with is reduced, and the print mark 13 and the thermal mark 12 can be safely used for a large amount of prepaid card.

As a prepaid card, it is mainly used for subtraction. If one line is subtracted once, 30 lines 30
It can be used only once, but can be handled by increasing the number of rows. When the final line is reached, a new ticket with the balance remaining can be issued. Of course, this security card can be used not only for subtraction but also for addition.

In the above embodiment, three patterns are displayed on one spot, but if four patterns are added with print marks that can be detected only by the infrared sensor, 4 ²⁰ ≈10
Pattern display of 0000000000 (20 spots per line) can be performed, pattern display of 1,000,000 times that of the conventional one can be performed, and more information can be stocked.
Its usage is also wide. The optical reader including both the visible light sensor and the infrared sensor described above can be suitably used as a reading device for the card,
For example, it can also be used as a reader for checking forgery of printed matter such as banknotes printed in a desired pattern with a printing ink that reflects visible light or a printing ink that reflects infrared light.

Although the present invention has been variously described with reference to the preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and many modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Of course.

[0016]

According to the writable security card of the present invention, the thermal spots which can be detected by both the visible light sensor and the infrared sensor at the display spots arranged in a matrix in rows and columns on the thermal agent coated paper card. Since the mark and the print mark that can be detected only by the visible light sensor are displayed in the required pattern, not only is it inexpensive, but the amount of information is large, so it is possible to create a complicated security code. Since the thermal mark can be discriminated by the human eye only as the same visible light mark, there is an effect that copy and tampering can be prevented and the thermal mark can be used safely. Further, it can be used by a card writer equipped with a thermal printer, an ink jet device, etc., for example, for writing once for each line for subtraction, etc. and can be used for writing as a prepaid card, etc., and a card equipped with a visible light sensor, an infrared sensor It can be easily done using a reader.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a security card.

FIG. 2 shows reading patterns by a visible light sensor and an infrared sensor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Security card 11 Mount 12 Thermal mark 13 Printing mark

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A display spot, which is arranged in a matrix of rows and columns on a paper card coated with a thermal agent, which increases the absorption rate of infrared rays having a predetermined wavelength when the color is developed, is displayed in the same color as the color of the thermal agent. A writable security card characterized by displaying a print mark and a thermal mark in a required pattern. 2. A feeding mechanism for feeding a paper card coated with a thermal agent, which increases the absorptivity of infrared rays having a predetermined wavelength when a color is developed, to a fixed size, and a feeding mechanism arranged on the carrier path of the mount by the feeding mechanism, A printing device capable of printing a print mark having the same color as the color of the thermal agent, and a thermal printer arranged in parallel with the printing device on the conveyance path, capable of displaying the thermal mark by coloring the thermal agent, A card writer, wherein the print mark and the thermal mark can be displayed in a required pattern on display spots arranged in a matrix in rows and columns on a paper card. 3. A display spot located in a matrix of rows and columns on a paper card coated with a thermal agent, which increases the absorption rate of infrared rays of a predetermined wavelength when the color is developed, is displayed in the same color as the color of the thermal agent. A writable security card in which a print mark and a thermal mark are displayed in a required pattern can be mounted, and a light emitting unit that emits the visible light on the security card and a visible light reflected from the security card are received. A visible light sensor having a light receiving portion; and a light emitting portion emitting an infrared ray of the predetermined wavelength on the security card, and an infrared ray sensor having a light receiving portion receiving an infrared ray reflected from the security card, the visible light sensor The thermal mark is detected by the infrared sensor by detecting the print mark and the thermal mark by And a card reader for recognizing the required pattern.