JPH1064053A - Magnetic card - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a spent card from an alternation by providing the card with a magnetic track zone and a free zone outside a magnetic track magnetic- field-oriented a easily-magnetized axis of at least a part of magnetic particles in about the vertical direction to a base material. SOLUTION: A magnetic layer 3 is formed on the surface of the magnetic card 1. The magnetic layer 3 is composed of the magnetic recording track zone 3A and the free zone 3B outside the track. Either single track or plural tracks are formed in the magnetic recording track zone 3A, and also the track width is optionally formed. The easily-magnetized axis of magnetic particles is oriented in the vertical direction of the base material in the zone 3B. A hole being punched after the use of the card is expressed with a circle 3C provided in the magnetic track zone 3A and expressed with a chain line and the diameter of the hole is preferably >=1/2 of the magnetic recording track zone width.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technology for preventing forgery of a magnetic card.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, many magnetic cards have been used as cash vouchers. However, the ease of recording and reproduction, which is a feature of magnetic cards, also means the ease of copying.
Various countermeasures have been taken to prevent forgery and tampering. Among them, the main ones are as follows: a method of using a password, a method of making it impossible to read a magnetic recording signal by devising the structure of the magnetic layer and the magnetic recording material, performing irreversible destruction before and after use, A method of making a used card unusable, a method of assigning a non-rewritable unique code, a method of determining validity by cryptographic processing, a method of detecting a special concealment mark by a sensor, and a combination thereof And so on. By the way, a magnetic card is roughly classified into (A) a magnetic layer required for magnetic recording by a method such as sticking or printing a magnetic tape or a magnetic label on a part of a base, such as a cash card, a credit card, a magnetic passbook, or the like. (B) a magnetic layer is formed on the entire surface of the support base, as in many prepaid cards.
There are seeds. The latter type (B) cards are excellent in mass productivity because a magnetic layer can be continuously formed on a wide substrate by a coating machine and can be produced in a multi-faced form, but from the viewpoint of preventing forgery, There was a weakness. In other words, of the forgery / falsification prevention methods described above, as an example of a method of performing irreversible destruction before and after use and making it impossible to reuse a used card, for example, when punching, the entire surface of the card is used. In many cases, holes are punched only in the track zone of the magnetic head that actually performs magnetic recording and reproduction for efficiency. In such a case, for example, two used cards are prepared and the first punch punching unit is prepared. Was cut and removed, a non-perforated portion having the same shape was cut out from the remaining second card, and the virgin card could be easily modified by joining to the previous first card.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic card of the type in which a magnetic layer is formed on the entire surface of a substrate, such as a prepaid card, by cutting and removing a structurally broken portion of a used card and removing the used card. It is an object of the present invention to provide a means for preventing the alteration of a new virgin card by an operation of cutting out and connecting an unused non-destructive portion of an already used card.

[0004]

In the magnetic card of the present invention, only the magnetic recording track area of the magnetic layer is formed as characteristics required for normal magnetic recording, and the other areas are formed as different characteristics not used for magnetic recording. To form.
Next, after the card is used, the magnetic recording track area is irreversibly destroyed in structure and cannot be reused. By these two means, re-use of the used magnetic card is prevented. According to the theory of magnetic recording, when the direction of the axis of easy magnetization of magnetic particles having uniaxial magnetic anisotropy is set parallel to the applied magnetic field, the maximum remanent magnetization is obtained, whereas the axis of easy magnetization of magnetic particles is obtained. Is placed in a direction perpendicular to the applied magnetic field, the residual magnetization of the particles is directed in the up-down direction, so that the residual magnetization as viewed from the magnetic field application direction becomes zero.

In a step of preparing a synthetic resin coating material in which magnetic particles having uniaxial magnetic anisotropy are dispersed, coating the coating material on a non-magnetic support base to a predetermined thickness with a coater, and forming a magnetic coating film, The area used as a reproduction track is subjected to a normal magnetic field orientation treatment in the running direction, the easy axis of the magnetic particles is arranged in the coating direction (= recording / reproduction direction), and the other unnecessary areas not used for magnetic recording are in the vertical direction. A magnetic field orientation treatment is performed, and the axes of easy magnetization of the magnetic particles of the magnetic layer are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the substrate and dried and fixed. In the magnetic card appropriately cut from the magnetic material roll manufactured as described above, the magnetic characteristics of the magnetic layer in the magnetic recording / reproducing track area (= longitudinal orientation zone) and other areas (= vertical orientation zone). Therefore, there is no characteristic compatibility in magnetic recording at all, and after all, it is not possible to cut out a part from the region of the vertical alignment zone and use it for a magnetic recording / reproducing track. Of course, in the actual production process, it is unlikely that the magnetic field is perfectly ideally oriented due to various causes such as imperfect alignment magnetic field, non-uniformity of the magnetic material, and mixing of undispersed particles. If at least the ratio between the magnetic recording / reproducing output of the magnetic track portion oriented in parallel and the magnetic recording / reproducing output ratio of the vertically oriented unnecessary portion can be reduced to 1/5 or less, the threshold value of the circuit device is set to separate the two. Can be effectively implemented.

Further, if the magnetic recording track area is punched with a punch hole having a diameter of at least half of the track width after use of the card, it is possible to completely prevent the used card from being misused.

The outline of the present invention is described above in the case where the magnetic particles in the magnetic recording / reproducing track area are arranged in the card running direction, and the magnetic particles in the magnetic layer in the free area not used for magnetic recording are uniformly arranged in the vertical magnetic field. As mentioned, of course, the magnetic particles in the free area are not arranged in a uniform vertical direction. For example, even if the magnetic particles are intermittently arranged, or at least formed in a part of the free area in the state of a card, it is essential. Needless to say, the same effect can be obtained as long as the characteristics are such that they cannot be used as a magnetic recording / reproducing track.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a magnetic card according to the present invention. 1 is a magnetic card, 3 is a magnetic layer, 3A is a magnetic recording track area, 3B is a free area outside the magnetic recording track, 3
C represents a punch hole. Dotted lines a and b represent cutting lines of the card. A magnetic layer 3 is formed on the surface of the magnetic card 1. The magnetic layer 3 includes a magnetic recording track area 3A and a free area 3B outside the track. Although the magnetic recording track area 3A is shown as a single track in the example shown, there may be a plurality of tracks, and the track width may be arbitrarily formed. A circle 3C indicated by a dashed line provided in the magnetic recording track area 3A represents a punch hole to be punched after use of the card, and the diameter D may be equal to or more than の of the width w of the magnetic recording track area. preferable.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view when the magnetic recording track area 3A is cut along a cutting line a. 2 is a supporting substrate,
Reference numeral 5 denotes uniaxially anisotropic magnetic particles in which the axis of easy magnetization is represented by an arrow. In this area 3A, the axis of easy magnetization of the magnetic particles 5 is uniformly oriented in the longitudinal direction of the card (= head running direction = recording / reproducing direction). FIG. 3 is a side sectional view when the free region 3B outside the magnetic track is cut along the cutting line b. Reference numeral 2 denotes a support base, and 5 denotes uniaxial anisotropic magnetic particles in which the axis of easy magnetization is represented by an arrow. In the region 3B, the axis of easy magnetization of the magnetic particles 5 is oriented in the direction perpendicular to the base. In addition,
In the region 3B, the axis of easy magnetization of the magnetic particles 5 may be vertically oriented as shown in the entire region, or may be sufficiently smaller than the width of the magnetic recording track region (for example, 1/1).
The easy axis of magnetization of the magnetic particles 5 in the region excluding the region (2 or less) may be oriented in the vertical direction as illustrated. As long as this condition is satisfied, the vertically aligned portion may be formed as a plurality of stripes arranged in the width direction.

FIG. 4 shows another form of free area 3 according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a side sectional view when B ′ is cut along a cutting line b. Similarly, reference numeral 2 denotes a support base, and 5 denotes uniaxial anisotropic magnetic particles in which an axis of easy magnetization is represented by an arrow. In this embodiment, the area 3
The axis of easy magnetization of the magnetic particles 5 of B 'is intermittently or partially oriented in the direction perpendicular to the substrate along the running direction of the magnetic card. Also in this example, in the free region 3B ′, a portion where the easy axis of the magnetic particles 5 is intermittently or partially oriented in the perpendicular direction of the base along the running direction of the magnetic card is formed with a sufficient size. The portion that is not oriented in the direction does not occupy more than half of the width of the recording / reproducing area in the width direction.
Also in this example, the portion where the magnetic particles are oriented in the vertical direction may be formed in a plurality of stripes. FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a magnetic card coating machine according to the present invention. Reference numeral 10 denotes an unwinding portion of the support base, 11 denotes a coating device, 12 denotes an orientation device A, 1
Reference numeral 3 denotes an orienting device B, 14 denotes a drying furnace, and 15 denotes a winding section of a completed roll. The support base 2 is unwound from the unwinding section 10 and the coating apparatus 11 coats the base with a magnetic paint to a predetermined thickness. Next, a longitudinal orientation treatment of the magnetic particles is performed by an orientation device A12, and the magnetic particles in a portion other than a region actually used for magnetic recording are arranged in a vertical direction by an orientation device B13. It is solidified and finally wound up by the winding unit 15. The support substrate 2 may be any film such as paper and a plastic film as long as it is a film used for an ordinary magnetic card. In the figure, the coating device 11 is a representative hopper type simple device. However, the coating device 11 is usually provided with a magnetic coating such as a gravure coat, a reverse roll coat, a nozzle coat, and a bar coat to uniformly and smoothly coat the coat. Any device can be used as long as it can be formed. The orientation device A12 is a normal orientation device for aligning the axis of easy magnetization of the magnetic particles in the application direction, and uses an air-core coil or a counterpolar magnet. The orientation device B13 is a device for arranging the axis of easy magnetization of the magnetic particles in a direction perpendicular to the base, and uses, for example, a different pole opposing magnet.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which a magnetic paint is applied on a substrate and the magnetic particles dispersed in the magnetic paint are oriented by the orientation devices A and B. Reference numeral 2 denotes a support base, 11 denotes a coating device, 4 denotes a magnetic paint, 5 denotes magnetic particles, 12 denotes an orientation device A, and 13 denotes an orientation device B. Since the magnetic particles 5 in the magnetic paint 4 applied to the base 2 by the coating device 11 are initially in a random dispersion state, the axes of easy magnetization are oriented in all directions. However, when the magnetic particles 5A pass through the orientation device A12, the axes of easy magnetization of the magnetic particles 5A are arranged parallel to the running direction. Next, when the magnetic particles 5B pass through the orienting device B13, the easy axes of magnetization of the magnetic particles 5B at predetermined positions in the width direction are vertically arranged. As the magnetic particles 5 responsible for magnetic recording,
Usually, magnetic particles having uniaxial magnetic anisotropy among magnetic materials required for magnetic recording include, for example, needle-like magnetic particles having anisotropic shape, or barium ferrite and strontium ferrite having crystal magnetic anisotropy. Any material can be used as long as it is a magnetic material. The magnetic paint 4 is a magnetic paint generally required for a coating type. As a binder, a vinyl chloride resin, a vinyl chloride vinyl acetate copolymer resin, a polyester resin, a polyurethane resin, an acrylate resin,
Various synthetic resins such as nitrocellulose resin are dissolved in solvents such as acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone, and toluene, and prepared with a dispersing machine such as a ball mill, a sand mill, a shaking mill, and a bead mill together with various additives. Any coating material can be used as long as it maintains a predetermined flow characteristic in which magnetic particles can be rearranged by orientation.

FIG. 7 is a view of the alignment step shown in FIG. 6 observed from above. Reference numeral 2 denotes a support base, 11 denotes a coating device, 4 denotes a magnetic paint, 5 denotes magnetic particles, 12 denotes an orientation device A, and 13 denotes an orientation device B. 5A represents magnetic particles arranged in a direction parallel to the substrate, 5B represents magnetic particles arranged in a direction perpendicular to the substrate, and 3A and 3B represent a parallel alignment region and a vertical alignment region, respectively. The area 3A is a track portion required for magnetic recording and reproduction as a card later, and the area 3B is a free area outside the recording track of the card. Here, the width, the number of tracks, and the position of the parallel orientation region 3A are arbitrary, and are appropriately designed according to the specification of the shape of the card.

FIG. 8 is a front view (a) and a side view (b) showing an outline of the parallel orientation magnet portion of the orientation device A12. 12
A represents an upper magnet, 12B represents a lower magnet, N represents a magnetic pole, and 2 represents a supporting base. The magnetic particles in the magnetic paint applied to the substrate 2 have their easy axes of magnetization arranged in the application direction by the orientation device A12. This orientation mode is the same as that used in many magnetic recording media, and an air-core coil or a counterpolar magnet is used as the orientation magnet. FIG. 8 is an example of the same pole permanent counter magnet. As a material for the magnet, a barium ferrite or alnico magnet is used to obtain a strong orientation magnetic field. Magnet width W
Is sufficient to cover the coating width of the magnetic coating film applied on the substrate 2, the length L is usually about 2 cm, and the strength of the applied orientation magnetic field is adjusted by adjusting the gap G.

FIG. 9 shows a front view (a) and a side view (b) of a vertically oriented magnet portion of the orientation device B13. 13A
Is an upper magnet, 13B is a lower magnet, N and S are magnetic poles, 1
3C denotes a magnet support and 2 denotes a support base. The axes of easy magnetization of the magnetic particles are arranged in the vertical direction by the orientation device B13. Therefore, the orientation magnets are opposed to each other so that the magnetic poles of the upper and lower magnets 13A and 13B with the base 2 interposed therebetween have different magnetic poles. FIG. 9 shows an example in which a permanent magnet is used. As the material of the magnet, barium ferrite or an alnico magnet is used as in the parallel orientation device. As shown in FIG. 9, the overall shape is a tooth shape in which different magnetic pole opposing magnets having a width W1 are arranged at every magnet interval W2. The magnetic particles are vertically arranged at the opposing portion of the magnetic pole.
The total magnet width W is a length that sufficiently covers the width direction of the coating film applied on the substrate 2, the interval W2 corresponds to the magnetic recording / reproducing track width required for the magnetic card, and the magnet width W1 corresponds to the off-track free area. The strength of the applied magnetic field is adjusted by the opposing magnet gap G. The upper and lower opposing magnets may be made of permanent magnets with different poles at the top and bottom, one of which may be made of pure iron or a permalloy yoke, or the magnet may be approached from above or below without using the opposing magnets. Since they do not converge, the characteristics obtained are degraded. FIG. 9 shows an example in which a permanent magnet is used, but the same result can be expected by using an electromagnet in which a coil is wound around a yoke of pure iron or the like.

[0015]

Next, an embodiment will be described. Example 1 An acicular γ-Fe ₂ O ₃ magnetic powder having an average particle diameter of 1 μm and an axial ratio of 7/1 was prepared as a magnetic recording material, and a vinyl chloride vinyl acetate copolymer resin and a urethane resin were mixed at a weight ratio of 3/1. A lacquer is prepared by blending and dissolving in a mixed solvent of methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketin and toluene, a lacquer and a magnetic powder are mixed at a pigment / resin ratio of 4/1, and a small amount of a phosphate ester is added as a dispersant and shaken. Disperse with a mill to make magnetic paint. Further, a solvent is added to the paint to adjust the viscosity to about 1000 cp. A white polyester film with 188 μm thick bone white is prepared as a supporting substrate, and the magnetic paint is applied with a wet thickness of about 100 μm using a hopper type applicator. Next, while the coating film is in an undried state, the barium ferrite permanent magnet is brought closer to the same pole from above and below the substrate, and the magnetic particles in the coating film are oriented in a magnetic field parallel to the running direction. A similar barium ferrite permanent magnet was applied to a part of the width direction so as to oppose the different poles, and the perpendicular magnetic field orientation was performed near the coating film from above and below. Thereafter, a sample was cut out from the roll in the form of a magnetic card, and the magnetic recording / reproducing output of the parallel magnetic field oriented track and the perpendicular magnetic field oriented track was compared and measured.
The measurement was performed using a magnetic card recording / reproducing apparatus equipped with a recording / reproducing head made of Permalloy having a head gap of about 10 μm, recording and reproducing a sine signal having a frequency of 210 BPI and comparing the signals. As a result, the reproduction output of the vertical magnetic field oriented track portion was 1/5 or less of the output of the parallel magnetic field oriented track portion.

Example 2 A plate-like barium ferrite magnetic powder having an average diameter of 1 μm and an axial ratio of 1/10 was prepared as a magnetic recording material, and a polyester resin was blended and dissolved in a mixed solvent of equal amounts of methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketin and a toluene solvent. The prepared lacquer is prepared, a small amount of a phosphate ester is added as a dispersant, mixed at a pigment / resin ratio of 3.5 / 1, and dispersed by a shaking mill to obtain a magnetic paint. Further, a solvent is added to the paint to adjust the viscosity to about 1000 cp. A white polyester film with 188 μm thick bone white was prepared as a supporting substrate, and the magnetic paint was applied to a hopper type applicator for about 100 hours.
Apply with a wet thickness of μ. Next, while the coating film is in an undried state, the barium ferrite permanent magnet is brought closer to the same pole from above and below the substrate, and the magnetic particles in the coating film are oriented in a magnetic field parallel to the running direction. A similar barium ferrite permanent magnet was applied to a part of the width direction so as to oppose the different poles, and the perpendicular magnetic field orientation was performed near the coating film from above and below. Thereafter, a sample was punched out of the roll into a magnetic card shape, and the magnetic recording / reproducing output of the parallel magnetic field oriented track and the perpendicular magnetic field oriented track was measured comparatively. The measurement was performed using a magnetic card recording / reproducing device equipped with a permalloy recording / reproducing head having a head gap of about 10 μm.
A sine signal of 10 BPI frequency was recorded and reproduced and compared. As a result, the reproduction output of the vertical magnetic field oriented track portion was 1/5 or less of the output of the parallel magnetic field oriented track portion.

As described above, regarding the structure formation of the magnetic layer according to the present invention, the horizontal alignment (= alignment apparatus A) → vertical alignment (=
An example has been described in which the orientation apparatus B) is performed in the order. Conversely, a structure similar to that of the present invention can be formed even in the order of vertical alignment → horizontal alignment. However, the alignment performed first may be performed uniformly over the entire width of the base roll, but in the post-alignment step, it is necessary to apply an alignment magnetic field only to a necessary portion on the track.
In addition, as described above, the vertical alignment region is not necessarily a uniform vertical alignment, but may be an intermittent vertical alignment. Should be the case, but in that case,
ON / OFF of the coil current flowing to the electromagnet and the vertical vibration of the orientation magnet
It can be realized by turning OFF. In the present invention, the formation of a single magnetic track has been mainly described as a typical example. However, it is clear that a single magnetic track can be formed in a similar manner even with a plurality of tracks or a multilayered structure. It is obvious that various additional uses such as a magnetic barcode layer, a fixed code layer, and the like used together as a magnetic card are within the scope of the present patent.

[0018]

According to the card of the present invention, since the magnetic layer is uniformly formed on the entire surface of the card, there is no step and there is no fear of collapse of the load. Further, it is excellent in mass productivity, and has an advantage that it can be easily produced simply by adding a vertical orientation device to a conventional coating machine. If the magnetic track portion is destroyed, the card of the present invention can be modified and reused no longer any portion of the card, and is excellent in security.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing one embodiment of a magnetic card according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view when a magnetic recording track area 3A is cut along a cutting line a.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view when a free area 3B outside a magnetic track is cut along a cutting line b.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view when a free region 3B ′ of another embodiment according to the present invention is cut along a cutting line b.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a magnetic card coating device according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which a magnetic paint is applied on a substrate, and magnetic particles dispersed in the magnetic paint are oriented by an orientation device A and an orientation device B;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the alignment process shown in FIG. 6 as observed from above.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are a front view (a) and a side view (b) showing an outline of a parallel orientation magnet unit of the orientation apparatus A12.

FIG. 9 shows a front view (a) and a side view (b) of a vertically oriented magnet portion of an orientation device B13.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: magnetic card 2: support base 3: magnetic layer 3A: magnetic recording track area 3B, 3B ': free area outside magnetic recording track 3C: punch hole 5: uniaxial anisotropic magnetic particles 10: unwinding portion of support base 11: Coating device 12: Orienting device A 12A: Upper magnet 12B: Lower magnet 13: Orienting device B 13A: Upper magnet 13B: Lower magnet 13C: Magnet support 14: Drying furnace 15: Winding part of completed roll

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A magnetic recording medium in which a magnetic layer containing magnetic particles having uniaxial magnetic anisotropy is formed on a non-magnetic substrate, wherein a magnetic recording track in which the easy axis of the magnetic particles is magnetically oriented in the recording / reproducing direction. A magnetic card comprising: a region; and a free region outside a magnetic recording track in which an axis of easy magnetization of at least a part of magnetic particles is magnetically oriented in a direction substantially perpendicular to a substrate. 2. A portion of the magnetic particles in which the easy axis of magnetization is magnetically oriented in the direction perpendicular to the substrate is placed in a free area outside the magnetic recording track in a perpendicular direction having a width of at least half the width of the magnetic recording track area. 2. The magnetic card according to claim 1, wherein a portion not oriented is not formed. 3. The magnetic card according to claim 2, wherein the portion of the magnetic particles whose magnetic easy axis is oriented in the magnetic field in the direction perpendicular to the substrate is formed continuously or intermittently in the recording / reproducing direction. 4. A magnetic card according to claim 1, wherein a punch hole having a diameter equal to or more than 1/2 of the track area width is punched at any position of the magnetic recording track area after use. .