JPH0834184A - Optical card - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an optical card having such a structure that an optical recording member is embedded in the recessed part of a card base material, constituted so that the optical recording member is simply embedded in the recessed part, having good appearance and strong even against upward bending. CONSTITUTION:A taper angle of -50 deg.-3 deg. is provided to one sides or one sides and one sides adjacent thereto in the longitudinal direction of the end surface of the optical recording member 6 and the side surface of the recessed part 7a of the card base material 7 in an outward direction with respect to the vertical direction from the bottom surface of a card and a taper angle of 3 deg. or more is provided to the other sides in the outward direction with respect to the vertical direction from the bottom surface of the card and roundness is provided to the boundary of the side surface and bottom surface of the recessed part of the side (c) in the longitudinal direction provided with a taper angle of at least 3' or more among the boundaries of the side and bottom surfaces of the recessed part of the card base material 7. The optical recording member 6 can be accurately positioned to be easily inserted and the gap between the end surface of the optical recording member 6 and the side surface of the recessed part 7a of the card base material 7 is reduced to improve appearance and this card is also excellent in bending aptitude.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical card used for credit cards, cash cards, medical cards and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a card-type recording medium, an optical card having a storage capacity larger than that of a magnetic card or an IC card has been developed. There are a ROM type, a write-once type, and an erasable type as the recording system of this optical card, and a recording medium and a structure of each are being studied. Among such optical cards, those in which an optical recording member is embedded in a card base material in an island shape are known (for example,
See Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 22222/1990).

[0003]

By the way, in the embedded optical card described in the prior art, since the end surface of the optical recording member and the side surface of the recess of the card substrate to be embedded are perpendicular to the card surface, A certain gap must be provided in order to fit the member into the concave portion of the card base material, and there is a drawback that the finished card does not look good.
Further, since the adhesive or pressure-sensitive adhesive is provided only on the bottom surface of the optical recording member, there is a defect that the side surface of the recess is stressed by bending and the card is broken.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to embed an optical recording member easily, to have a good appearance, and to have a light resistant to bending. Is to provide a card.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, an optical card according to the present invention comprises a surface hardened layer, a transparent protective layer having a track pattern on the lower surface, and an optical recording material layer, which are laminated in this order from the top. An optical card in which a planar rectangular optical recording member is embedded in a planar rectangular recess formed in a card base material via an adhesive layer, the end surface of the optical recording member and the recess side surface of the card base material. On one side in the longitudinal direction, or on one side in the longitudinal direction and one side adjacent thereto, outward with respect to the vertical direction from the bottom of the card −
A taper angle of 50 ° to 3 ° is provided, and a taper angle of 3 ° or more is provided outward on the other side with respect to the vertical direction from the bottom surface of the card, and the boundary between the concave side surface and the concave bottom surface of the card base material. A state in which a rounded portion is provided at the boundary between the recess side surface and the recess bottom surface on the side in the longitudinal direction at least having the taper angle of 3 ° or more, and the end surface of the optical recording member is not exposed from the card base material. And is embedded in the concave portion of the card base material. In addition, it is preferable that the roundness is an arc shape having a radius of curvature of 0.2 to 10 mm. Then, in order to increase the bending strength of the card, it is preferable that the adhesive layer between the optical recording member and the card substrate is present not only on the bottom surface of the optical recording member but also on the end surface.

Specifically, the card substrate and the optical recording member are respectively indicated by C and H, the side where the taper angle of -50 ° to 3 ° is provided is A, and the side where the taper angle of 3 ° or more is provided. When displayed as B, the combination of side A and side B is shown in FIG.
Six types of patterns shown in (a) to (f) can be adopted.
Then, one of the sides B in the longitudinal direction has roundness at the boundary between the concave side surface and the concave bottom surface, and the other side may or may not have roundness at the boundary between the concave side surface and the concave bottom surface. Become. In this case, since the bending stress of the card is concentrated in the center, it is appropriate to bend the side B having a taper angle of 3 ° or more out of the one side in the longitudinal direction toward the center of the card base material C. Excellent results are obtained.

The reason why the taper angles of the sides A and B are within the above range is as follows. That is, if the taper angle on the side A is less than -50 °, it is difficult to fit the optical recording member into the concave portion, and conversely, if it exceeds 3 °, the optical recording member is apt to be displaced and the positional accuracy is poor. Further, if the taper angle of the side B is less than 3 °, it is difficult to fit it, and moreover stress concentrates during bending.
Even if the taper angle of the side B is 3 ° or more, it is preferable that the appearance of the card base material is not deteriorated as long as the design of the card base material is not limited.

In order to obtain an optical recording member having a taper on the end face as described above and a card substrate provided with a concave portion having a side surface corresponding to the end face, it is roughly divided into two.
There are two ways. The first is a method of processing the end surface of the optical recording member and the recess of the card base material by cutting, and the second is a method of producing the optical recording member and the card base material by an injection method or a casting method.

In the first method, first, an optical recording member having a surface-hardened layer formed on one surface of a transparent protective layer and a pattern layer and an optical recording material layer formed on the other surface is prepared. Cutting is performed so that the end surface of the optical recording member forms a predetermined taper angle, and further, if necessary, a predetermined lower end surface is rounded. A protective layer is provided so as not to damage the optical recording material layer during this cutting. As this protective layer, an acrylic type,
Those that do not affect the optical recording material layer, such as vinyl chloride-based or polyester-based, are used. If a protective film is used, it is not necessary to provide this protective layer.

The material used for the transparent protective layer must have low birefringence. Specifically, polycarbonate (PC), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA),
Acrylonitrile-styrene copolymer (AS), cellulose propionate (CP), cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyester and the like can be used, and among them, the thickness is 400 μm.
Polycarbonate (PC) of the order of magnitude is suitable.

An acrylic UV-curable hard coat agent is suitable for the surface-hardened layer formed on one surface of the transparent protective layer. In addition, a melamine-based or silicon-based hard coating agent may be used, but one having excellent temperature and humidity suitability and having high hardness and not causing cracks even when bent is preferably used.

The pattern formed on the other surface of the transparent protective layer is formed as a pattern layer by the generally known 2P method, injection method, casting method or the like. At this time, when the pattern layer is formed by the 2P method, a UV-curable resin is used, and by the injection method or the casting method, the same transparent protective layer is used. It should be noted that this pattern layer is prepared by filling it, except that it has a dove capable of cutting. This is because the optical recording material is effectively used.

For the optical recording material layer, in addition to the commonly used metal-based optical recording materials such as tellurium-based and bismuth-based materials, dye-based optical recording materials such as phthalocyanine-based materials and naphthoquinone-based materials can be used. Further, not only the write-once type but also the ROM type may be used.

On the other hand, the card substrate is provided with a recess in which the optical recording member is embedded, with each side surface thereof being the same as the taper of the end surface of the optical recording member and at the boundary between the recess side surface and the recess bottom surface at a predetermined location. It is formed by cutting (counterboring) so as to form roundness. In this case, in order to obtain parallelism between the concave portion and the card end surface, the card base material end surface is cut at the same time as the counterbore processing.

Polyvinyl chloride, ABS resin, etc. are used as the card base material. In the case of polyvinyl chloride, 0.10 / 0.28 / 0.28 / 0.10 mm,
0.05 / 0.37 / 0.37 / 0.05mm, etc. 4
Layers are suitable. In addition, 0.10 mm, 0.05
mm is transparent polyvinyl chloride, 0.28m
m, 0.37 mm is opalescent polyvinyl chloride,
Printing is performed on one side of the opalescent polyvinyl chloride to increase the abrasion resistance of the printing.

Then, the optical recording member is fixed to the concave portion of the card base material with an adhesive. As the adhesive, conventionally known adhesives such as urethane-based, epoxy-based, acrylic-based, vinyl-based, and amide-based adhesives can be used, but since the adhesive is in direct contact with the optical recording material layer, the recording sensitivity is good and Those having excellent suitability are preferable. As a bonding method, a UV curable adhesive is dripped into the concave portion of the card base material, an optical recording member is fitted therein, and a flat press corresponding to the size of the optical recording member is pressed to irradiate ultraviolet rays to bond. Or
There is a method in which a hot-melt adhesive is applied to the optical recording member with a T-die, and then hot-pressed with a flat press or a roll press for adhesion. In either case, the pressing conditions are set so that the adhesive spreads between the end surface of the optical recording member and the side surface of the concave portion of the card substrate. When an adhesive is used to fix the optical recording member in the concave portion of the card substrate, a double-sided adhesive sheet may be used.

According to another method of the first method, an optical recording member is formed by forming a surface hardened layer on one surface of a transparent protective layer and forming a pattern layer and an optical recording material layer on the other surface. Then, a plastic hot melt adhesive is applied on the optical recording material layer, and the optical recording member laminated up to this adhesive layer is further required so that the end face forms a predetermined taper angle. Correspondingly, a cutting process is performed so that a predetermined lower portion of the end face is rounded, the optical recording member is fitted in the concave portion of the card base material, and hot pressing is performed by a flat press or a roll press to bond them. In this case, the pressing conditions are set so that the adhesive melts and spreads between the end surface of the optical recording member and the side surface of the concave portion of the card substrate.

In the second method, first, a resin such as polycarbonate or acrylic is used, and a transparent protective layer having a pattern is formed by a generally known injection method or casting method. At this time, the transparent protective layer is shaped so that the end face has a predetermined taper angle, and further, if necessary, a predetermined lower end face is rounded. Then, a surface hardened layer is formed on the side opposite to the pattern, and an optical recording material layer is formed on the pattern surface. As the surface hardened layer and the optical recording material layer, the same ones as described above are used. On the other hand, a resin such as ABS resin or polyvinyl chloride is used to prepare a card base material by an injection method or a casting method. At this time, the concave portion in which the optical recording member is embedded is formed, and the side surface thereof is made to be the same as the taper of the end surface of the optical recording member, and the roundness is formed at the boundary between the concave side surface and the concave bottom surface at a predetermined position. Mold. In addition, painting is performed by in-mold molding. Then, by the same method as described above, the optical recording member is fixed to the concave portion of the card base material with an adhesive or a pressure sensitive adhesive.

In order to diversify the use of the card, a magnetic stripe may be provided on the same surface as the optical recording member or on the opposite surface or both surfaces of the card substrate, or the IC may be formed on the same surface as the optical recording member or on the opposite surface. A module should be provided.

[0020]

In the optical card having the above-mentioned structure, when the optical recording member is fitted into the concave portion of the card substrate, the taper of -50 ° to 3 ° provided on one side in the longitudinal direction is the card substrate of the optical recording member. It plays the role of providing easy fitting and positional accuracy, and the taper of 3 ° or more provided on the other side plays a role of further exerting the easy fitting. by this,
The optical recording member can be fitted into the concave portion of the card base material without providing a large gap between the concave portion of the card base material and the optical recording member. Further, the roundness provided at the boundary between the side surface of the concave portion and the bottom surface of the concave portion serves to disperse the stress when the card is bent.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of the optical card according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view in the X-X cross section of FIG. 2. The optical card shown in the figure is prepared by the following procedure. It was done.

First, as shown in FIG. 4, a hard coating agent (UH-001, manufactured by Toray) is spin-coated on one surface of a sheet-molded polycarbonate (transparent protective layer 1) having a thickness of 0.4 mm. The hardened layer 2 was formed by coating. Next, the guide track pattern layer 3 is formed on the surface opposite to the surface hardened layer 2 by the 2P method, and TeO is formed thereon.
The optical recording material layer 4 was formed by sputtering x. Next, on the optical recording material layer 4, an adhesive 5 (PPET-2101 manufactured by Toagosei) was used to a thickness of 50 μm using a T-die.
Was applied. Then, as shown in FIG. 5, one side a (lower side) in the longitudinal direction has a taper angle α of −10 ° outward with respect to the vertical direction from the bottom surface, and the other three sides b,
c and d have a taper angle β of 45 ° outward, and the outer dimensions are 35 mm × 84 mm by cutting so that the radius of curvature of 5 mm is provided at the boundary between each side surface and the bottom surface and parallelism with the track is obtained. The flat optical recording member 6 having a rectangular shape was prepared.

On the other hand, two core sheets of 0.28 mm opalescent vinyl chloride were printed by single-sided silk offset printing, and the non-printed surfaces of these two core sheets were combined to form an oversheet of 0.10 mm. It was sandwiched by two pieces and heat-fused to prepare a four-layer card base material 7. A magnetic tape 8 of 650 Oersted was formed on one side (front side) of one oversheet, and a magnetic tape of 290 Oersted (not shown) was formed on one side (back side) of the other oversheet. Then, a planar rectangular recess 7a in which the optical recording member 6 is embedded is formed in the card base 7 by cutting. In this case, one side (lower side) in the longitudinal direction of the side surface of the concave portion 7a has a taper angle of -10 ° outward with respect to the vertical direction from the bottom surface, and the other three sides have a taper angle of 45 ° outward. In addition, a radius of curvature of 5 mm is provided at the boundary between the side surface 7a of the recess and the bottom surface 7b of the recess.
A counterboring process was performed with a slightly larger size so as to have a gap of m, and a cutting process of the end face of the card substrate 7 was performed so that parallelism with each side of the recess 7a was obtained.

The optical recording member 6 is fitted into the concave portion 7a of the card base material 7 prepared above, and a flat press having a size corresponding to the size of the optical recording member 6 is used at 120 ° C. and 6 kg / c.
Hot pressing was performed for 2.5 seconds under the condition of m ² . As a result, the adhesive 5 on the back surface of the optical recording member 6 was melted, and as shown in FIG. 3, it was possible to bond the optical recording member 6 with the adhesive layer 5a covering the bottom surface and the end surface. In addition, since vinyl chloride hitting the bottom surface of the optical recording member 6 transfers heat from the upper surface of the transparent protective layer 1 (polycarbonate), there is no sagging due to the heat.
In this case, the fitting operation was easily performed, and the positional accuracy of the optical recording member 6 with respect to the recess 7a was ensured.

For the optical card thus manufactured,
Optical card R / W (manufactured by OMRON, 3B3H-DJ-01)
When the data of 100 tracks was written, the error rate was within 1 × 10 ⁻⁴ . Further card base 7
It was possible to write and read data by the optical card R / W even if the embossing was performed on the. Further, this optical card was subjected to a bending test in accordance with the ISO bending test standard, but there was no problem.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the optical card according to the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a partially enlarged view in the XX cross section of FIG. 6. The optical card shown in the figure is prepared by the following procedure. It was done.

First, as shown in FIG. 8, a surface protective layer 11 made of polymethylmethacrylate having a pattern surface 11a on the back side and having a thickness of 0.4 mm was formed by a casting method. At this time, one side e (lower side) in the longitudinal direction has a taper angle α of −10 ° outwardly with respect to the vertical direction from the bottom surface, and the end faces of the other three sides f, g, and h have an outward angle of 45 °.
The taper angle β is set to 0 °, and it is designed to provide a radius of curvature of 5 mm at the boundary between the end face and the bottom face of the other side g (upper side) in the longitudinal direction. Next, a hard coating agent (made by Toray, UH
-001) is applied to form the surface hardened layer 12, and then TeOx is sputtered on the pattern surface 11a to form the optical recording material layer 13, so that the outer dimension is 16 mm × 84.
An optical recording member 14 having a planar rectangular shape of mm was prepared.

On the other hand, a card base material 15 was prepared by injection method using ABS resin. Specifically, the whole is a card size with a thickness of 0.78 mm, and the side surface of one side (lower side) in the longitudinal direction and the side (left side) adjacent to it is outward at −5 ° with respect to the vertical direction from the bottom surface. The other three sides have a taper angle of 45 ° outward, and the optical recording is further performed so that the radius of curvature of 5 mm is provided on the boundary between the side surface and the bottom surface of the other side (upper side) in the longitudinal direction. A card base material 15 having a gap of 50 μm between the member 14 and a recess 15a having a depth of 0.45 mm was prepared. In this case, the pattern was formed by in-mold molding.

The concave portion 15 of the card base material 15 created above
A UV curable adhesive (863 made by Kyoritsu Kagaku Sangyo Co., Ltd.) is dropped on a, the optical recording member 14 is fitted into the recess 15a, the whole is pressed by a flat press, and then ultraviolet rays are applied to the adhesive. Was cured. At this time, as shown in FIG. 6, the press conditions were set so that the adhesive was spread even on the end surface of the optical recording member 14 to form the adhesive layer 16. In this case, the fitting operation was easy and
The positional accuracy of the optical recording member 14 with respect to the recess 15a was ensured.

For the optical card thus manufactured,
Optical card R / W (manufactured by OMRON, 3B3H-DJ-01)
When the data of 100 tracks was written, the error rate was within 1 × 10 ⁻⁴ . Further, this optical card was subjected to a bending test in accordance with the ISO bending test standard, but there was no problem.

[0032]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, it has the following effects.

-50 ° outward from the vertical direction from the bottom surface of the card on one side in the longitudinal direction of the end surface of the optical recording member and on the side surface of the concave portion of the card substrate, or on one side in the longitudinal direction and one side adjacent thereto. By providing a taper angle of 3 ° and providing a taper angle of 3 ° or more outward with respect to the vertical direction from the bottom surface of the card on the other side,
The optical recording member can be accurately positioned and easily fitted into the concave portion of the card base material, and the gap between the end surface of the optical recording member and the side surface of the concave portion of the card base material is reduced, which makes the optical appearance attractive. .

Among the boundaries between the recess side surface and the recess bottom surface of the card substrate, at least the boundary between the recess side surface and the recess bottom surface on the side in the longitudinal direction having the taper angle of 3 ° or more is rounded, so that this roundness is obtained. Functions to disperse the stress when the card is bent, so that it is possible to improve the bending suitability.

Since the adhesive layer between the optical recording member and the card substrate is provided not only on the bottom surface of the optical recording member but also on the end surface,
An optical card with improved bending strength can be obtained.

Since the optical recording member is embedded in a part of the card substrate, by utilizing the remaining area of the card substrate, an optical card of a form that could not be manufactured up to now, for example, a magnetic stripe is formed on both sides. Optical card,
It is possible to manufacture an optical card with embossing, an optical card in which the optical recording unit and the IC module are not on the same surface, an optical card capable of CP processing on both sides, and an optical card capable of transferring holograms on both sides.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view for explaining an arrangement example of optical recording members.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of an optical card according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view taken along line XX of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a procedure for producing the optical recording member in FIG.

5 is a cross-sectional view of the optical recording member in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the optical card according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a partially enlarged view taken along line XX of FIG.

8 is a sectional view showing a transparent protective layer of the optical recording member in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 C Card Base Material H Optical Recording Member 1 Transparent Protective Layer 2 Surface Hardening Layer 3 Pattern Layer 4 Optical Recording Material Layer 5a Adhesive Layer 6 Optical Recording Member 7 Card Base Material 7a Recess 8 Magnetic Stripe 11 Transparent Protective Layer 11a Patterned Surface 12 Surface Cured layer 13 Optical recording material layer 14 Optical recording member 15 Card base material 15a Recess 16 Adhesive layer

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A planar rectangular optical recording member in which a surface hardened layer, a transparent protective layer having a track pattern on the lower surface, and an optical recording material layer are stacked in this order from the top to a planar rectangular shape formed on a card substrate. An optical card embedded in the recess of the optical recording member via an adhesive layer, the optical card being provided on an end face of the optical recording member and on one side of the recess side of the card base in the longitudinal direction, or on one side in the longitudinal direction and one side adjacent thereto. A taper angle of -50 ° to 3 ° is provided outward with respect to the vertical direction from the bottom of the card, and a taper angle of 3 ° or more is provided outward with respect to the vertical from the bottom of the card on the other side. Further, among the boundaries between the recess side surface and the recess bottom surface of the card base material, at least the boundary between the recess side surface and the recess bottom surface of the longitudinal side provided with the taper angle of 3 ° or more is rounded, and Optical card, characterized in that the end face of the optical recording member is embedded in the recess of the card substrate in a state that not exposed from the card substrate. 2. The optical card according to claim 1, wherein the adhesive layer between the optical recording member and the card substrate is present not only on the bottom surface but also on the end surface of the optical recording member. 3. The optical card according to claim 1, wherein the end surface of the optical recording member and the recess of the card base material are machined by cutting. 4. The optical card according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the optical recording member and the card substrate are produced by an injection method or a casting method. 5. The optical card according to claim 1, wherein a magnetic stripe is provided on the same surface as the optical recording member, the opposite surface, or both surfaces of the card substrate. 6. The IC module is provided on the same surface as or an opposite surface of the optical recording member.
The optical card described in 2, 3, or 4.