JPH09138844A - Optical card - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily insert an optical recording member and to improve durability by providing corner circles at positions corresponding to the corner parts of the optical recording member which covers a track pattern at the back of a transparent protection layer and in which an optical recording layer is laminated and the recessed parts of a card base material. SOLUTION: The optical recording member 1 buried in the card base material 2 in an island form is constituted of the transparent protection layer 3 provided with the track pattern 4 at the lower face, the optical recording layer 5 laminated by covering the track pattern 4 and a surface hardening layer 6 provided on the surface of the transparent protection layer 3, and the member 1 is buried in the recessed part 7 formed on the card base material 2 through an adhesive layer 8. The corner circles are formed at the four corners of the optical recording member 1 in a state where they do not cover a track part 5a and a mirror part 5b. It is preferable to set the radii of curvature on the corner circles to 1.0-3.0mm. Thus, it becomes easy to insert the optical recording member 1, stress is distributed for obliquely twisting force, adhesive strength increases and durability as a card is improved.

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]

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, one in which an optical recording member is embedded in a card base material in an island shape is known (for example, see Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 22222/1990).

By the way, in the above-mentioned embedded type optical card, the optical recording member is embedded in the rectangular concave portion provided in the card base material, so that there is a certain amount of space between the end face of the optical recording member and the side surface of the concave portion of the card base material. Gap is provided. That is, if the gap is too small, it is difficult to mount the optical recording member on the card base material, and if it is too large, the parallelism with respect to the longitudinal edge of the card is not obtained and the optical recording is hindered. This gap is preferably about 5 to 200 μm, for example. However, even if such a gap is provided, if the four corners of the optical recording member are angular, it will not fit smoothly when it is fitted into the recess of the card substrate, and the contact area at the corner will be small. In addition, the adhesive strength is weakened, the corners are easily peeled off, and the durability is lowered.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems. An object of the present invention is to embed an optical recording member in an easy manner and with excellent durability. To provide.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the optical card of the present invention comprises an optical recording member in which an optical recording layer is laminated so as to cover a track pattern provided on the back side of a transparent protective layer. In an optical card embedded in a recess formed in a card substrate, at least two corners of the optical recording member and corresponding corners of the recess of the card substrate are provided with rounded corners. It is a thing. Here, it is preferable that the rounded corners are formed so as not to cover the track portion and the mirror portion, or the rounded corners are formed so as not to overlap the track portion but to the mirror portion.

[0006]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIGS. 1 and 2 show an optical card as an example of the present invention. FIG. 1 is its plan view and FIG. It is a partially expanded sectional view in X.

As shown in FIG. 1, this optical card has an optical recording member 1 embedded in a card substrate 2 in an island shape. The optical recording member 1, as shown in FIG. 2, has a transparent protective layer 3 having a track pattern 4 on its lower surface,
The optical recording layer 5 is laminated so as to cover the track pattern 4, and the surface hardening layer 6 is provided on the surface of the transparent protective layer 3. The adhesive layer 8 is provided in the concave portion 7 formed in the card substrate 2. Embedded through. In the present embodiment,
As shown in the figure, in the optical recording member 1, since the optical recording layer 5 is provided inside the end surface of the transparent protective layer 3, even if the edge portion of the optical recording member 1 is chipped, the optical recording layer 5 is affected. And the end of the optical recording layer 5 is not oxidized.

FIG. 3 which is an enlarged view of the portion A of FIG.
As also shown in FIG. 5, the optical recording member 1 is provided with rounded corners at its four corners. In the illustrated example, the rounded corners are formed so that they do not overlap the track portion 5a and the mirror portion 5b. The mirror portion 5b referred to here has no optical recording effective track,
This is a portion where only the optical recording layer 5 is present, and in the case of an optical card in which the tracks are parallel to the longitudinal direction of the card, it is upside down. That is, since the optical recording layer 5 cannot be exactly fitted to the track portion 5a, the area of the optical recording layer 5 is usually designed to be larger so as to surely cover the track portion 5a. A mirror portion 5b is formed on the top and bottom of the member 1. Therefore, by forming the rounded corners so that the track portion 5a and the mirror portion 5b are not covered as shown in FIG. 3, it is not necessary to reduce the number of effective optical recording tracks. In addition,
The gap indicated by G in the figure is the gap between the end surface a of the optical recording member 1 and the concave side surface b of the card substrate 2.

The example shown in FIG. 4 is a case where the optical recording member 1 in which the optical recording layer 5 is formed over the entire surface of the transparent protective layer 3 is used, and the corners are not covered by the track portion 5a but are mirrors. The portion 5b is formed in a suspended state. Further, the example shown in FIG. 5 is a case where the optical recording member 1 in which the optical recording layer 5 is formed with a gap left only in the top and bottom of the transparent protective layer 3 is used, and the rounded corners are not applied to the track portion 5a. Is formed on the mirror portion 5b. Also in these examples, it is not necessary to reduce the number of effective tracks for optical recording.

Regarding the width of the mirror section, the ISO / IEC 11694-2, which is an international standard for optical cards, is used.
(Fig. 1) ", the distance from the lower end of the reference edge of the card to the optical recording portion must be at least 1.0 mm shorter than the distance from the reference edge of the card to the reference track, that is, There is an agreement that the width of the optical recording invalid mirror portion on the lower end side of the optical recording portion should be 1.0 mm or more. Therefore, when the rounded corners provided in the four corners are applied to the mirror portion 5b as in the example of FIGS. 4 and 5, the dimension β shown in FIG.
Is 1.0 mm or more, or only the two corners of the upper end of the optical recording which are not described in the above standard are rounded corners, and the two corners of the lower end of the standardized optical recording portion are not rounded corners. .

In the case where the four corners of the optical recording member 1 are provided with rounded corners as described above, the smaller the rounded corner R (radius of curvature), the better the appearance of the four rounded corners, but the smaller the bonding area at that portion. The adhesive strength is weakened and it is easy to peel off from the four corners. On the contrary, if this R is increased, the stress is dispersed with respect to the obliquely twisting force, and the durability is improved. For example, if the size is too large, the magnetic stripe will be covered, and a wasted space will be generated as other functions are added. Therefore, R is 1.0 to
The thickness is preferably about 3.0 mm, and most preferably 2 mm.

The optical recording member 1 is preferably embedded in the concave portion 7 of the card substrate 2 in a state of not protruding from the card substrate 2. In addition, the optical recording member 1 is attached to the concave portion 7 of the card substrate 2.
In order to make it easy to fit in the optical recording member 1, it is preferable to provide a taper α on the end surface a of the optical recording member 1 and on the concave side surface b of the card substrate 2, as shown in FIG. It is good to have it.

There are two methods for obtaining the optical recording member 1 and the card substrate 2 as described above.
Broadly speaking, the first method is a cutting method, and the second method is a molding method. Hereinafter, each method will be described in detail.

In order to produce the optical recording member 1 by the first method, first, the surface hardened layer 6 is formed on one surface of the transparent protective layer 3 and the layer having the track pattern 4 on the other surface and the optical recording. A multiple-sided optical recording member sheet formed by forming the layer 5 is prepared. After cutting this individually, the end face a is cut to form the optical recording member 1. At this time, rounded corners are provided in the four corners, and a desired taper is provided on the end face a as required. In order to prevent the optical recording layer 5 from being damaged during this cutting, a protective layer is usually provided on the surface in contact with the optical recording layer 5. As this protective layer, an acrylic type, vinyl chloride-based type, polyester type, olefin type, urethane type or the like that does not affect the optical recording layer 5 is used. If a protective film is used, it is not necessary to provide this protective layer.

The material used for the transparent protective layer 3 must have low birefringence. Specifically, polycarbonate (PC), polymethylmethacrylate (PMM
A), acrylonitrile-styrene copolymer (AS),
Cellulose propionate (CP), cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB), polyvinyl chloride (PV
C), polyester and the like can be used, and among them, polycarbonate (PC) having a thickness of about 400 μm is suitable.

As the surface hardened layer 6 formed on one surface of the transparent protective layer 3, an acrylic UV curable hard coat agent is suitable. 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 layer having the track pattern 4 formed on the other surface of the transparent protective layer 3 is formed by a generally known 2P method, injection method, casting method, or the like. At this time, when a pattern 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 3 is used.

As the optical recording layer 5, in addition to the commonly used metallic optical recording materials such as tellurium type and bismuth type,
Phthalocyanine-based and naphthoquinone-based dye recording materials can be used. Further, not only the write-once type but also the ROM type may be used. The optical recording layer 5 is formed by sputtering this optical recording material through a mask. In this case, it may be formed over the entire surface of the transparent protective layer 3, but as shown in the example of FIG.
More preferably, they are formed in regions that are spaced inward.

To prepare the optical recording member 1 by the second method, first, a transparent protective layer 3 with a track pattern is prepared by a generally known injection method or casting method using a resin such as polycarbonate or acrylic. . At this time, the four corners are provided with rounded corners, and the end face a is tapered as required. Then, the surface hardened layer 6 is formed on the opposite side of the track pattern 4, and the optical recording layer 5 is formed on the track pattern surface to prepare the optical recording member 1. As the optical recording layer 5 and the surface hardened layer 6, the same ones as described above are used. Also in this case, the optical recording layer 5 is formed by sputtering an optical recording material through a mask. Although it may be formed over the entire surface of the transparent protective layer 3, it is more preferable that the transparent protective layer 3 is formed in a region spaced from the end surface of the transparent protective layer 3 by about 0.1 to 2 mm as in the example of FIG. .

To make the card substrate 2 by the first method, the recesses 7 in which the optical recording members 1 are embedded are formed by cutting (counterbore processing), and the optical recording members 1 are formed at four corners of the recesses 7. If the end surface a of the optical recording member 1 is provided with a taper,
The card base 2 is cut so that the side surface b of the recess is the same as the taper of the end surface a of the optical recording member 1. At the time of this cutting process, it is necessary to obtain parallelism between the recess 7 and the longitudinal edge of the card, but for this purpose, the cutting of the recess 7 and the edge of the card base material 2 should be performed coaxially. In addition,
When the concave portion 7 is formed by cutting in this way, it is difficult to form the concave portion 7 having no roundness in the four corners because the cutting blade has an angle. Then, for example, comparing R (radius of curvature) of 1 mm (1R) and 2 mm (2R), when cutting the same area, 1R requires about twice as many reciprocations as 2R. If R is made smaller, the appearance of the quadrangle becomes better, but the number of reciprocating cuts increases, the smoothness of the bottom surface of the recess deteriorates, and the cutting time increases, resulting in an increase in cost.

As the card substrate 2 used in the first method, polyvinyl chloride, ABS resin or the like is used. In the case of polyvinyl chloride, 0.10 / 0.28 / 0.28 /
0.10 mm, 0.05 / 0.37 / 0.37 / 0.0
Four layers, such as 5 mm, are suitable. In addition, 0.10
mm and 0.05 mm are transparent polyvinyl chloride, 0.28 mm and 0.37 mm are opalescent polyvinyl chloride, printed on one side of opalescent polyvinyl chloride to increase abrasion resistance of printing. Is applied.

To prepare the card substrate 2 by the second method, a resin such as ABS resin or polyvinyl chloride is used, and the card substrate 2 is prepared by the injection method or the casting method. At this time, the recesses 7 in which the optical recording member 1 is embedded are formed. The four corners of the recesses 7 are rounded to allow the rounded corners of the optical recording member 1, and the end surface a of the optical recording member 1 is formed.
If the tape is provided with a taper, the side surface b of the concave portion of the card substrate 2 is shaped to be the same as the taper of the end surface a of the optical recording member 1. In addition, the molding is performed so that the concave portion 7 of the card substrate 2 and the longitudinal edge are parallel to each other. The painting is performed by in-mold molding.

The optical recording member 1 produced as described above is embedded in the concave portion 7 of the card substrate 2 and fixed by the adhesive layer 8. As the adhesive, conventionally known adhesives such as urethane-based, epoxy-based, acrylic-based, vinyl-based, and amide-based adhesives can be used. However, since the adhesive layer 8 directly contacts the optical recording layer 5,
It is preferable that the recording sensitivity is good and the temperature and humidity are excellent. As a bonding method, a UV curable adhesive is dropped on the concave portion 7 of the card substrate 2, the optical recording member 1 is fitted therein, and the flat recording press corresponding to the size of the optical recording member 1 is pressed to irradiate ultraviolet rays. And then adhere, or the optical recording member 1
There is a method in which a hot-melt adhesive is applied to the above 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 agent spreads between the end surface a of the optical recording member 1 and the concave side surface b of the card substrate 2. Also, the card substrate 2
When an adhesive is used to fix the optical recording member 1 in the concave portion 7, a double-sided adhesive sheet may be used.

When the optical recording member 1 is produced by the first method, the following adhesion method may be adopted. That is, an optical recording member sheet is prepared in which the surface hardened layer 6 is formed on one surface of the transparent protective layer 3 and the layer having the track pattern 4 and the optical recording layer 5 are formed on the other surface thereof, and the optical recording member sheet is prepared. A thermoplastic hot melt adhesive is applied onto the layer 5, and the optical recording member sheet laminated up to the adhesive layer 8 is cut into individual optical recording members 1 and then the same cutting process as described above is performed. After going, the recess 7 of the card substrate 2
Then, the optical recording member 1 is fitted in and is heat-pressed with 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.

The optical card of the present invention is manufactured as described above. In order to further increase the parallelism between the track pattern 4 of the optical recording member 1 and the card edge, the following method may be adopted. That is, a card base material 2 with a recess 7 having a size slightly larger than the card shape is prepared by cutting or molding, and the optical recording member 1 is embedded in the recess 7 and then the card shape is formed with reference to the track pattern 4. It is used for punching.

To improve mass productivity, add 1 card.
The production efficiency will be higher if it is made in multiple planes than it is made in plane. In the case of multi-sided production, the imposition and the number of planes differ depending on the design of the production line, but it is suitable that the number of test lines is about 2 to 8 and the number of production lines is about 8 to 40. In any case, it may be determined in consideration of the effective use amount of the base material, the production operation rate, and the like.

In order to diversify the use of the card, the optical card of the present invention is provided with a magnetic stripe on the same surface as the optical recording member, the opposite surface or both surfaces, or the same surface as the optical recording member or the opposite surface. You may make it provide an IC module. Furthermore, depending on the application, card information such as personal name and registration number can be formed as embossed characters in areas other than the optical recording member, or image information, character information and bar code of sublimation transfer type or melt transfer type. May be printed or a hologram may be transferred. For example,
6 shows a magnetic stripe 9 provided on the same surface as the optical recording member 1, and FIG. 7 shows a magnetic stripe 9 and an IC module 10 provided on the same surface as the optical recording member 1 and further sublimation. The face photograph 11 is provided by a transfer method. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, two magnetic stripes 9 and an IC module 10 are provided on the same surface as the optical recording member 1,
Furthermore, embossing is used to form embossed characters.

[0027]

【Example】

Example 1 First, a hard coat agent (manufactured by Toray, UH-00 manufactured by Toray Co., Ltd.) was spin-coated on one surface of a sheet-molded polycarbonate (transparent protective layer) having a thickness of 0.4 mm.
1) was applied to form a surface-hardened layer. Next, a track pattern is formed on the surface opposite to the surface hardened layer by the 2P method,
TeOx was sputtered thereon to form an optical recording layer. In this case, the transparent protective layer was formed in a region having a width of 0.1 mm inside the line to be cut. Then, an adhesive (PPET-2101 manufactured by Toagosei) was applied on the optical recording layer with a T-die to a thickness of 50 μm. And 60 mm in the longitudinal direction and 15 m in the short side direction.
An optical recording member was prepared by cutting so that the m and quadrangle were 2 mmR, the end face was tapered by 10 °, and the longitudinal direction was parallel to the track pattern.

On the other hand, two core sheets of 0.28 mm opalescent vinyl chloride were printed on one side with silk offset, and the non-printed side of these two core sheets was overlaid with a 0.10 mm oversheet. It was sandwiched by two sheets and heat-fused to prepare a four-layer card base material. A magnetic tape of 650 Oersted was formed on one surface of one oversheet, and a magnetic tape of 290 Oersted was formed on one surface of the other oversheet. Then, a recess was formed in the card base material by cutting to embed the optical recording member. Further, the optical recording member was cut by 50 μm larger than the optical recording member so that the side surface of the recess has a taper angle of 10 ° outward with respect to the vertical direction from the bottom surface of the card, and the optical recording member can be fitted in better.

[0029] fit the optical recording member into the recess of the card substrate created above, using a flat press that matches the size of the optical recording member, 120 ° C., under the conditions of 6 kg / cm ² 15
Only the optical recording member was hot-pressed for a second. The fitting operation could be performed without any problems. Further, the adhesive was melted by hot pressing, and the optical recording member could be adhered while covering the bottom surface and the end surface. Further, since vinyl chloride hitting the bottom surface of the optical recording member conducts heat from the top surface of the transparent protective layer (polycarbonate), there is no sagging due to the heat. Then, an optical card having an outer dimension of 16 mm × 84 mm was manufactured by punching into a card shape based on the track pattern of the embedded optical recording member.

Optical card R / W for the above sample
When data of 100 tracks was written with (3B3H-DJ-01 made by OMRON), the error rate was 1 × 1.
It was within 0 ^-4 . Furthermore, even if the card base material of the above sample was embossed, data could be written and read by the optical card R / W. Further, the above sample was subjected to a bending test in accordance with the ISO bending test standard, but there was no problem.

Example 2 A polymethylmethacrylate (transparent protective layer) with a track pattern having a thickness of 0.4 mm was prepared by the casting method. At this time, the longitudinal direction is 83 mm, the short side direction is 18 mm, the four corners are 1.5 mm R, the end faces are tapered by 10 °, and the longitudinal direction is parallel to the track pattern. I designed it. Next, a hard coating agent (UH-001 manufactured by Toray) is applied to the opposite side of the pattern surface by spin coating.
Is applied to form a surface hardened layer, and then Te is applied to the pattern surface.
An optical recording member was prepared by sputtering Ox to form an optical recording layer. In this case, the transparent protective layer was formed in a region spaced 0.1 mm inside from the end face.

On the other hand, a card size of 0.80 mm thick was obtained by injection method using ABS resin.
A card base material having a recess for embedding the optical recording member was prepared. The recess has a depth of 0.48 mm, and the side surfaces are each 50 μm larger than the size of the optical recording member, and the side surfaces form a taper angle of 10 ° outward with respect to the vertical direction from the bottom surface of the card. Size 16
It was molded to have a size of mm × 84 mm. In this case, the pattern was formed by in-mold molding.

Next, a UV curable adhesive (863 made by Kyoritsu Kagaku Sangyo Co., Ltd.) was dropped into the concave portion of the card base material, the optical recording member was fitted into the concave portion, and the whole was pressed by a flat press, The adhesive was cured by irradiating with ultraviolet rays. At this time, the press conditions were set so that the adhesive was spread even on the end surface of the optical recording member. The operation of fitting the optical recording member could be performed without any trouble.

Optical card R / W for the above sample
When data of 100 tracks was written with (3B3H-DJ-01 made by OMRON), the error rate was 1 × 1.
It was within 0 ^-4 . Further, the above sample was subjected to a bending test in accordance with the ISO bending test standard, but there was no problem.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention, the optical recording member in which the optical recording layer is laminated so as to cover the track pattern provided on the back side of the transparent protective layer is provided in the recess formed in the card substrate. In the optical card to be embedded, since at least two corners of the optical recording member and the corresponding corners of the concave portion of the card base material are provided with rounded corners, it is easy to insert the optical recording member. In addition, the stress is dispersed with respect to a twisting force, and the adhesive strength is higher than that of a chip having four corners, which improves the durability of the card.

Further, since the optical recording member is embedded in a part of the card base material, the remaining area of the card base material is used to form an optical card in a form that could not be manufactured until now, for example, a magnetic stripe. Optical cards with both sides, embossed optical cards, optical cards that do not have the optical recording part and IC module on the same side, CP-processable optical cards on both sides, hologram transferable optical cards on both sides, etc. It will be possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an optical card according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged sectional view taken along line XX of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion A in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view showing another optical card example corresponding to FIG.

5 is an enlarged view showing another optical card example corresponding to FIG. 3. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an example of an optical card provided with an additional function.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing another example of an optical card provided with an additional function.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing still another example of an optical card provided with an additional function.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Optical Recording Member 2 Card Base Material 3 Transparent Protective Layer 4 Track Pattern 5 Optical Recording Layer 5a Track Part 5b Mirror Part 6 Surface Hardening Layer 7 Recess 8 Adhesive Layer 9 Magnetic Stripe 10 IC Module 11 Face Photo

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. An optical recording member in which an optical recording layer is laminated so as to cover a track pattern provided on the back side of a transparent protective layer,
In an optical card embedded in a recess formed in a card substrate, at least two corners of the optical recording member and corresponding corners of the recess of the card substrate are provided with rounded corners. Optical card. 2. The optical card according to claim 1, wherein the rounded corners are formed in a state where they do not cover the track portion and the mirror portion. 3. The optical card according to claim 1, wherein the rounded corners are formed such that they are not applied to the track portion but are applied to the mirror portion. 4. The radius of curvature of the rounded corner is 1.0 to 3.0 m.
The optical card according to claim 1, wherein the optical card is m. 5. The optical card according to claim 1, 2, 3, or 4, wherein the optical recording layer is formed inside an end surface of the transparent protective layer. 6. The optical card according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein an optical recording member obtained by processing the end faces of a multi-sided optical recording member sheet by cutting is used. 7. An optical recording member comprising an optical recording layer provided on a transparent protective layer having a track pattern, which is produced by an injection method or a casting method.
The optical card according to any one of 5 above. 8. The optical card according to claim 1, wherein a card base material is used in which a recess is formed by cutting and an edge is cut. 9. The optical card according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein a card base material having a recess formed by an injection method or a casting method is used. 10. The optical card according to claim 1, wherein a magnetic stripe is provided on the same surface, the opposite surface, or both surfaces of the optical recording member. 11. The optical card according to claim 1, wherein an IC module is embedded in the same surface as or a surface opposite to the optical recording member. 12. The optical card according to claim 1, wherein an area other than the optical recording member is embossed.