JPH1091850A - Magnetic card and method for using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a magnetic card in a structure for preventing alteration in a simple constitution, and a method for using the magnetic card in which safety at the time of using the card can be guaranteed. SOLUTION: This magnetic card has a magnetic recording layer capable of writing magnetic information, and a composite layer constituted of magnetic materials incapable of writing and thermal plastic high molecular materials. A magnetic pattern is formed by a heating processing in the composite layer, and the crystallizing level of the thermal plastic high molecular materials is required by more than at least 20% for the change of the magnetic pattern. At the time of using this magnetic card, pattern information read from the magnetic pattern is written and recorded in the magnetic recording layer as the magnetic information. In an information confirming stage each time the card is used, the pattern information indicated by the magnetic pattern of the composite layer is compared and collated with the magnetic information recorded in the magnetic recording layer before it is used, and in an information updating stage, new pattern information related with a magnetic pattern formed by operating the heating processing to the composite layer, and changing the magnetic pattern is written, updated, and recorded in the magnetic recording layer after it is used.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention mainly relates to a ticket,
The present invention relates to a magnetic card which is used for cash vouchers such as telephone cards and prepaid cards and which has a magnetic recording layer and a composite layer made of a magnetic material and a thermoplastic polymer material and which is excellent in security.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, magnetic cards used as cash vouchers have been used by rewriting specific magnetic information such as balance on a magnetic recording layer of the card by a predetermined card processing device every time the card is used. In these cards, as a countermeasure against forgery, a protective layer is provided on the magnetic recording layer to make it difficult to read or rewrite magnetic information, or a multilayer magnetic recording layer is used to record information about the intended true magnetic information. Or a method of making a punch hole in the card each time the card is used and collating it with the punch hole information to protect the true magnetic information.

[0003]

By the way, recently, with the spread of magnetic cards, technical development of a card processing device for reproducing and recording information (indicating magnetic information and the above-mentioned specific information) from the magnetic card has been developed. In addition, it is possible to easily read information provided on a magnetic card and even write such information.

More specifically, every time a magnetic card is used, all information including new information is rewritten so as to overwrite old information. At this time, a card processing device for recording and reproducing card information is used. If there is, information can be easily rewritten. As a result, forgery of the card can be easily performed, and in recent years, the problem of such forgery of the magnetic card has been remarkably increased.

One of the causes is that the coercive force of the magnetic recording layer of the magnetic card is as low as 2 to 3 kOe. That is, if the coercive force is low, the magnetic information can be easily rewritten and tampered with the existing magnetic recording / reproducing device, so that the card can be forged.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and a technical problem is to provide a magnetic card having a simple structure capable of preventing tampering, and sufficient security when using the card. It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of using a magnetic card which can be guaranteed.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a magnetic recording layer provided on a card base and capable of writing magnetic information, a magnetic recording layer provided on the entire surface or a part of the card base, and a magnetic material and A magnetic card having a composite layer made of a thermoplastic polymer material is obtained.

According to the present invention, in the above magnetic card, a magnetic card having a thermoplastic polymer material having a crystallinity of 20% or more can be obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, in any one of the above magnetic cards, a magnetic card having a magnetic pattern formed by heating the composite layer is obtained.

On the other hand, according to the present invention, there is provided a method of using a magnetic card according to any one of the above, wherein pattern information read from a magnetic pattern is written and recorded as magnetic information on a magnetic recording layer. can get.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a method of using a magnetic card in which pattern information and usage frequency information are mixed to write and record magnetic information on a magnetic recording layer.

Further, according to the present invention, in any one of the above-mentioned methods of using a magnetic card, in each of the uses of the card,
An information confirmation step to check whether the pattern information indicated by the magnetic pattern in the composite layer matches the pattern information recorded in the magnetic recording layer before use, and a heat treatment applied to the composite layer after use to make the magnetic An information updating step of forming a new magnetic pattern by changing the pattern and writing / updating / recording new pattern information on the new magnetic pattern in the magnetic recording layer is obtained.

In addition, according to the present invention, in the method of using the magnetic card, in the information updating step, a method of using the magnetic card which writes and records the number of write / update records on the magnetic recording layer as usage frequency information is obtained. .

[0014]

The magnetic card of the present invention has a magnetic recording layer capable of writing magnetic information and a composite layer comprising a non-writable magnetic material and a thermoplastic polymer material. In the composite layer, a magnetic pattern is formed by the heat treatment. Here, in order to change the magnetic pattern, the thermoplastic polymer material needs to have a crystallinity of at least 20% or more. When using such a magnetic card, it is assumed that the pattern information read from the magnetic pattern is written and recorded on the magnetic recording layer as magnetic information. The pattern information indicated by the magnetic pattern and the pattern information recorded on the magnetic recording layer are compared and collated, and a heat treatment is applied to the composite layer after use as an information updating step to change the magnetic pattern to form a new magnetic pattern. Then, new pattern information relating to the new magnetic pattern is written to the magnetic recording layer and updated and recorded. Incidentally, the magnetic information includes the usage frequency information mixed with the pattern information, and the usage frequency information here indicates the number of write / update records.
This prevents tampering of the magnetic card and makes it impossible to alter or forge the card.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The magnetic card of the present invention and the method of using the same will be described in detail below with reference to examples.

First, the outline of the magnetic card of the present invention will be briefly described. The magnetic card is provided on a card base and has a magnetic recording layer on which magnetic information can be written.
A composite layer made of a magnetic material and a thermoplastic polymer material is provided on the entire surface or a part of the card substrate.

Of these, the composite layer is subjected to a heat treatment to form a magnetic pattern, and therefore, the thermoplastic polymer material has a crystallinity of 20% or more.

That is, this magnetic card has a magnetic recording layer on which magnetic information can be written and a non-writable composite layer. It is possible to record magnetic pattern information or mixed information obtained by mixing magnetic pattern and usage frequency information as magnetic information. It is also possible to convert individual card IDs and use frequency management, and to collate the usage frequency information and pattern information. , The authenticity of the card and its information can be confirmed. As a result, the magnetic card can be prevented from tampering.

When such a magnetic card is used, the method of use is based on the premise that pattern information read from a magnetic pattern is written and recorded on a magnetic recording layer as magnetic information. In the confirmation step, the pattern information indicated by the magnetic pattern of the composite layer before use is compared with the pattern information recorded in the magnetic recording layer, and in the information update step, the magnetic pattern is changed by applying heat treatment to the composite layer after use. In this way, a new magnetic pattern is formed, and new pattern information relating to the new magnetic pattern is written to the magnetic recording layer and updated and recorded. Incidentally, the magnetic information includes the usage frequency information mixed with the pattern information, but the usage frequency information here indicates the number of write / update records.
This makes it impossible to alter or forge the card when using the magnetic card.

In this magnetic card, the magnetic pattern of the composite layer is formed by applying the composite layer to the card substrate and then subjecting the card to heat treatment to crystallize or microcrystallize the thermoplastic polymer material. . The magnetic material of the composite layer is
After coating, it is uniformly present in the composite layer, but after heating it is present in the layer to avoid crystals of the thermoplastic polymer material and presents a unique network network pattern. The magnetic material of the composite layer may be either soft or hard, and is not particularly limited.

Since a unique magnetic pattern is formed in this manner, the magnetic pattern differs for each card. The pattern of the magnetic pattern can be detected using a magnetic sensor such as a magnetic head or a Hall element, and can be processed into information. Upon detection by a magnetic sensor, a magnetic bias may be superimposed on the composite layer, or in the case of a magnetic material having a high coercive force, the composite layer may be magnetized in advance.

By recording the pattern information of the magnetic pattern processed in this way on the writable magnetic recording layer of each card, it becomes possible to convert each card into an ID, and the recorded information of the magnetic recording layer is recorded. And the pattern information of the magnetic pattern are collated. Incidentally, if an existing magnetic recording medium, which is difficult to rewrite, is used as the magnetic recording layer, the safety can be further improved.

When the composite layer on which the magnetic pattern has been formed is heated again, the same magnetic pattern is not reproduced on the composite layer, and a new magnetic pattern is formed each time the composite layer is heated. Therefore, the heat treatment is performed on the composite layer every time the card is used, and the new pattern information of the changed new magnetic pattern and the usage frequency information are mixed, and the mixed information is recorded on the magnetic recording layer as magnetic information. Can be. That is, in such a case, the card and the authenticity (card ID) of the information can be confirmed by collating the variable usage information and the updated pattern information, thereby improving the security of the usage management. be able to.

The following is a specific example of manufacturing such a magnetic card. First, ferrite powder 50 parts by weight, dispersant 3 parts by weight, polyurethane resin 20 parts by weight, polyisocyanate resin 2 parts by weight, MEK 40
40 parts by weight of cyclohexanone and 40 parts by weight of toluene and 40 parts by weight of toluene, a ferrite powder 40 parts by weight, a dispersant 2 parts by weight, a crystalline epoxy resin 25 parts by weight, A composite layer coating material B having a composition of cyclohexanone: 40 parts by weight and toluene: 40 parts by weight was prepared.

Next, the coating material A for the magnetic recording layer and the coating material B for the composite layer were simultaneously applied in parallel on a PET substrate and dried to obtain a magnetic recording layer and a composite layer. The thickness of each layer after drying was about 10 μm.

Further, the PET substrate coated with the magnetic recording layer and the composite layer was punched to obtain a magnetic card.

Then, the composite layer of the obtained magnetic card was heated to 150 ° C. by a thermal head. Before heating, the composite layer had a structure in which ferrite powder was uniformly dispersed, but after heating, it was confirmed that the structure had a structure in which ferrite powder was dispersed in a network. In addition, the composite layer before and after heating is treated with a magnetic field of 3 kOe.
When reproduction was performed with a reproducing head while applying a considerable magnetic bias, a reproduction signal higher than the noise level could not be obtained from the composite layer before heating, but reproduction consistent with the dispersed structure was obtained from the composite layer after heating. The signal was obtained.

Next, the reproduced signal from the composite layer after heating is represented by S
The digital signal was processed at a / N ratio of 50%, and this digital signal was recorded on the magnetic recording layer by a recording head. Then, the composite layer is reproduced again, and the obtained reproduced signal is converted to an S / N ratio of 50%.
When the digital signal processing was performed and the signals recorded on the magnetic recording layer were compared with each other, it was found that the information on both signals was identical.

Further, the composite layer is again applied with a thermal head for 15 minutes.
Heating was performed at 0 ° C., and reproduction was performed with a reproducing head while applying a magnetic bias corresponding to a magnetic field of 3 kOe. When the obtained reproduced signal was compared with the reproduced signal before reheating, it was found that the signal was changed to a completely different signal.

In the above example, the coating material A for the magnetic recording layer was used.
And the case where the coating material B for the composite layer is applied simultaneously and in parallel on the PET substrate has been described. However, the method of manufacturing the magnetic card is not limited to this, and the method for applying the coating material for each layer separately or Alternatively, as a coating method, a method such as gravure, reverse roll, and die coater can be applied.

[0031]

As described above, according to the magnetic card of the present invention, a magnetic recording layer capable of writing magnetic information and a composite layer composed of a non-writable magnetic material and a thermoplastic polymer material are provided. On the other hand, assuming that a magnetic pattern is formed on the composite layer by heat treatment, the degree of crystallinity of the thermoplastic polymer material required for changing the magnetic pattern is at least 20% or more. As a result, it is possible to obtain a magnetic card having a simple configuration and a structure capable of preventing tampering. That is, when using such a magnetic card, the pattern information read from the magnetic pattern is written and recorded on the magnetic recording layer as magnetic information, and the magnetic layer of the composite layer is used before the use as an information confirmation step every time the card is used. The pattern information indicated by the pattern is compared with the pattern information recorded on the magnetic recording layer, and a new magnetic pattern formed by changing the magnetic pattern by applying a heat treatment to the composite layer after use as an information updating step is used. Writing and updating the pattern information on the magnetic recording layer (however,
The magnetic information includes the usage frequency information mixed with the pattern information, and the usage frequency information indicates the number of writing / updating records), so that high security when using the card can be guaranteed.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A magnetic recording layer provided on a card base and capable of writing magnetic information, and a composite layer provided on the entire surface or a part of the card base and made of a magnetic material and a thermoplastic polymer material And a magnetic card comprising: 2. The magnetic card according to claim 1, wherein the thermoplastic polymer material has a crystallinity of 20% or more. 3. The magnetic card according to claim 1, wherein the composite layer has a magnetic pattern formed by a heat treatment. 4. The method of using a magnetic card according to claim 1, wherein pattern information read from said magnetic pattern is written and recorded on said magnetic recording layer as said magnetic information. How to use a magnetic card. 5. The method for using a magnetic card according to claim 4, wherein said pattern information and usage frequency information are mixed and written and recorded on said magnetic recording layer as said magnetic information. how to use. 6. The method for using a magnetic card according to claim 4, wherein the pattern information indicated by the magnetic pattern in the composite layer and the pattern information recorded on the magnetic recording layer before use each time the card is used. An information confirmation step of examining and confirming whether or not the two coincide with each other.After use, the composite layer is subjected to a heat treatment to change the magnetic pattern to form a new magnetic pattern, An information updating step of writing, updating, and recording new pattern information in the magnetic recording layer. 7. The method of using a magnetic card according to claim 6, wherein, in the information updating step, the number of the write update records is written and recorded on the magnetic recording layer as the use frequency information. How to use