WO2000046745A1

WO2000046745A1 - Pre-paid card having abradable material

Info

Publication number: WO2000046745A1
Application number: PCT/IB1999/000205
Authority: WO
Inventors: Victor Benson; Jon Bedford
Original assignee: Scientific Games International Ltd.
Priority date: 1999-02-04
Filing date: 1999-02-04
Publication date: 2000-08-10
Also published as: AU2070599A

Abstract

Pre-paid cards such as telephone cards which have an intrinsic value yet are adapted to be disposable after validation of the card has occurred and the user thereof subsequently becomes entitled to the credit value of the card in respect of a particular service, such as a telephone service. The cards are printed with a number of layers including an opaque abradable or scratchable layer (38, 40) which is removed by the user to reveal the card indicia layer (32). The card uses a relatively light permeable plastic or paper substrate (10) and to prevent the indicia (32) from being fraudulently read by shining an intense light at the rear of the card, the layers embody a confusion pattern layer (36) disposed either under the abradable layer (38, 40) to be removed therewith or under the indicia and which registers with the indicia. The confusion pattern is ideally dependent on the particular indicia such that in combination, the indicia and the confusion pattern render deciphering of the indicia impossible.

Description

PRE-PAID CARD HAV ING ABRADABLE MATER IAL

This invention relates to a method of securely printing different substrates, and in particular relates to the secure printing of so- called "telephone cards" and other "pre-paid" cards.

Although the following description is provided with almost exclusive reference to mobile telecommunications networks and telephone cards, it will be appreciated that the invention is not concerned with the particular type of communications network in conjunction with which the telephone card is used, but merely with the telephone card per se. Furthermore, the invention is not to be considered as exclusively limited to telephone cards per se, but as covering all manner of pre-paid cards. Accordingly, the invention may have application to either a mobile telecommunications network as described, or a conventional land-line telecommunications network or to any application requiring prepayment with verification of the prepayment taking place by means of printed information and validation software.

With the introduction of mobile telecommunications networks and the rapid increase in the numbers of people using mobile telephones, network operators are constantly striving to find new ways of offering their services to the public. As a result, many network operators in conjunction with mobile telephone manufacturers have introduced a system wherein there is no need to issue regular individual invoices to the users for calls made on the network.

A user can purchase a mobile telephone without any requirement to provide intricate and personal financial details, and thereafter that user can purchase telephone cards which once activated allow that user to communicate using the telephone for a predetermined amount of network time.

Each and every telephone card provided either with the telephone when it is purchased or purchased separately thereafter is printed with a unique alphanumeric code for which a corresponding record entry is made in a database maintained by the network operator. Various additional details may also be entered in the database for the particular code, such as the amount of credit to which that code entitles a person activating same, and other information perhaps concerning the general geographic location of the card. A user wishing to activate the telephone card, or more particularly activate the amount of credit associated with the unique code printed on the telephone card simply uses a conventional telephone to access a central system server which in turn provides secure access to the database, and on a request of the central system server, the particular code printed on the card is entered by the user via the keypad of the telephone used. Ideally the telephone used to enter the code is a "touch-tone" phone for which the various numbers on the keypad have different tones recognisable by the central system server.

After the user has entered the code, and the central system server has verified that the code entered matches that of an entry in the database, that particular code is activated and the amount of credit associated therewith can be subsequently debited according to the amount of time the user communicates using the telephone. For example, when the user attempts to make a call using the telephone, the mobile telephone effectively firstly communicates with the central system server which either authorises access to the telecommunications network thus permitting a call to be made, or denies access to the network thus preventing the call. The decision of the central system server is based at least on the determination of the amount of credit at that time outstanding in connection with the particular code, and if insufficient credit remains to permit a call to be made, then access to the network is denied.

A system of the type described above is described more completely in US Patent Number 5504808.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the telephone cards described above must be intrinsically secure, especially as regards the concealment of the alphanumeric code. In European Patent Application Number EP0689163A1 it has been proposed to provide telephone cards with a "scratch-off" type material the removal of which would instantly alert a purchaser of the card to a prior attempt to compromise the card. In this application however, the telephone cards are generally manufactured in a resilient and durable plastics type material of the type commonly used in the manufacture of credit cards, and furthermore the cards of this European Application are provided with metallic electrical contacts over which the scratch-off material is applied.

The nature of the telephone cards of the present invention is that they are immediately disposable after the particular code has been entered by the user and activated by the central system server. Such cards are therefore ideally manufactured from a flexible cardboard or paper substrate, as this material is of significantly lower cost than plastics material, but an inherent disadvantage of such substrates is their effective transparency when subjected to intense light.

Although a scratch off material as proposed in the abovementioned European Application may be applied over the unique code printed on the telephone card, such a card may still be compromised by "candeling", which term is used to refer to the shining through the tick of an intense light to ascertain the indicia printed underneath the scratch off material.

It is to be pointed out that telephone and other pre-paid cards may be printed on inexpensive plastics material substrates which may be disposable, and that the use of a plastic substrate may not entirely preclude the use of candeling to decipher the concealed indicia printed on the card. Accordingly, this invention should not be considered as limited to the particular type of substrate on which the indicia of a pre-paid card are printed.

The network operators are therefore faced with a seemingly intractable problem in that the telephone cards they wish to sell have a significant intrinsic value (possibly of the order of £100) and yet must be capable of being cost effectively and simply printed in very large numbers, typically of the order of millions, while nevertheless being printed with a unique code regardless of the number of cards that are printed. Furthermore the cards must be secure in that it is practically impossible to decipher the unique code without removing the scratch off material by candeling.

In order to defeat fraud of cards by candeling, manufacturers have had to resort to special measures and these in particular have involved the use of base or substrate materials which are described as "secure" . Such materials prevent the passage therethrough of high intensity light and typically comprise laminates involving foil or specially designed base boards which are resistant to light penetration. These boards unfortunately are expensive and generally are environmentally objectionable. There is therefore a need to improve telephone card manufacture, both from a cost point of view and an environment point of view by adopting the use of more standard and less expensive substrate materials which compared to the secure materials can be described as "non- secure" .

Accordingly it is a primary object of this invention to provide a secure telephone card printed with a unique code which is practically impossible to decipher using candeling techniques.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a secure telephone card which can be printed on commercially available and somewhat standard materials (non-secure) such as white carton board. By adopting the measures of the present invention it is believed that less expensive and more commercially available and commercially used materials may be adopted for the substrate. Accordingly the cost of telephone cards so produced may be reduced significantly.

The invention can be applied to cards which comprise a single substrate layer, or cards where two substrate layers are adopted in the form of the so called " sandwich" cards wherein one of the substrates may be peeled away from the other to either reveal the scratch off material or the unique code printed on said telephone card.

In accordance with the invention a telephone card comprises a non- secure substrate having indicia printed thereon which is covered by opaque material which conceals the indicia and is abradable in order to reveal the indicia, and wherein a confusion pattern layer registers with the same indicia and lies under the abradable material so that the confusion pattern is not visible to the naked eye but will lead to confusion results if an attempt is made to identify the indicia by the shining of intense light through the card.

In a first embodiment of the invention the said confusion pattern layer is preferably removable by abrasion and is applied over the indicia and is covered by the opaque abradable material.

In a second embodiment, the said confusion pattern layer is preferably applied underneath the indicia which are covered by the opaque abradable material.

Most preferably, where the confusion pattern layer is applied underneath the indicia, an opaque layer is applied over the confusion pattern but prior to printing of the indicia thereon to prevent said confusion pattern from obscuring the indicia on removal of the scratch off material.

It is most preferable that the confusion pattern layer registers with and is complementary to the indicia.

Ideally, the indicia comprise an alphanumeric code.

It can be seen that by the provision of the hidden confusion pattern, an effective and simple means is provided for rendering the card as secure as a card which may be provided with a specially selected secure substrate. The confusion pattern preferably is made up of patterns, symbols, numbers, words or other indicia corresponding to the indicia of the card, but arranged in a form in order to enhance the confusion effect.

Thus, when the same indicia as made up of a number of symbols for example of two types, such as "O's " and "X's " the confusion pattern may be made up of the same symbols but in mirror image arrangement so that at each location in the pattern if the card is illuminated by a high intensity light from the rear, the viewer will see a shape represented by a 'O' superimposed on an "X" and will be unable to tell which symbol is in the indicia and which is in the confusion pattern. The above is only one specific example but any arrangement of symbols may be adopted. Thus if the indicia are made up of three types of symbols, it may be necessary to put down two confusion pattern layers so that all three types of symbols are laid down at each location.

The substrate preferably is a layer of plain cardboard, paper, or plastic of appropriate caliper to give the desired handling and feel characteristics.

In one example, the indicia are laid down on the substrate. The confusion pattern is applied over the indicia, and then the confusion pattern is covered by the opaque abradable layer. The confusion pattern is also abradable, and will be removed by abrasion of the abradable covering layer.

The cards may be treated with other layers such as protective varnish, and other security printing features in accordance with conventional practice. Steps should be taken to ensure that the indicia will effectively bond to the substrate and will not be removed during the abrading process .

An embodiment of the invention corresponding to the abovementioned example, will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawing, wherein:-

Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the various layers of a telephone card according to the embodiment of the invention; and

Fig. 2 shows in a series of steps how the various layers of the Fig. 1 card are laid down on the card substrate.

Referring to the drawings, and firstly to Fig. 1 , this figure shows in exploded elevation of a telephone card according to an embodiment of the invention. The view shows that the card comprises a base layer or substrate 10, which is of a material of essentially conventional and commercially available construction, and may typically be a white conventional carton board of appropriate caliper.

The figure also shows by a series of superposed rectangles the various layers which are laid down, for example by printing, on the substrate 10. Although these layers are indicated by rectangles, it is to be mentioned that in fact each layer may not be rectangular and may be made up for example of a plurality of symbols to form the indicia. It is convenient however to adopt the rectangular representation for the purposes of illustration. Also, the sequence of illustrations (a) to (£) of Fig.2 shows the top of the card after the respective layers have been deposited on the substrate.

Additionally, it should be mentioned that the various superimposed layers in the illustration give the impression of having a substantial thickness, but in fact each layer will be only a few micron in thickness such that when all of the layers are laid down on the card, they will not contribute substantially to increasing the card thickness .

Bearing the above explanations in mind, the various layers are now described in more detail.

Referring to Fig. 1 , a non-special non-secure substrate layer 10 is utilised, this being a particular advantage of the invention, and the layers which are applied and the order in which they are applied are as follows.

The first layer is the indicia layer 32. The indicia is applied by conventional printing techniques .

A varnish layer 34 of conventional form is applied over the indicia to protect same from abrasion, and on top of the varnish layer is applied a first scratch off layer 36 which comprises the confusion pattern. The card if viewed at this stage will have the appearance as indicated in Fig. 2 (d) which is a useful figure to examine because it illustrates how the indicia and confusion pattern interfere, making it well nigh impossible for the indicia to be identified by shining an intense light through the card.

On top of the confusion pattern is applied a covering layer preferably of solid black flexographic or silk screened ink which can be abraded. This layer is indicated by reference 38. The purpose of this layer is to prevent the variable information being read if the card has been delaminated or split.

The subsequent layers are a conventional opaque scratch off layer 40, which is used to some extent simply because of its colour characteristic and customer familiarity, and the final layer is an overprint layer 42 applied to the opaque layer 40 to prevent solvent removal of the layer 40.

The various views (a) to (f) in Fig. 2 correspond to the appearance of the layers 32 to 42 as they are laid down on the substrate.

In the first embodiment of the invention, the confusion pattern (layer 36) is buried within the layers of the card and cannot be seen by the user of the card prior to removal of the scratch off layer or layers and if the user intends to shine a light through the card to ascertain the nature of the indicia, he will be thwarted by virtue of the interaction of the confusion pattern and the indicia pattern, which is conveniently illustrated by Fig. 2 (c) . The confusion pattern layer is removed with the scratch off material thus instantly exposing the indicia to the user of the card.

In the second embodiment of the invention (not shown in the diagrams) , the confusion pattern layer may be provided underneath the indicia layer and the card may be provided with an intervening layer therebetween such that on removal of the scratch off material, the indicia are not obscured by said confusion pattern, but attempts to candle the ticket are thwarted by the combination of the indicia and the confusion pattern as described above.

There may be two or more confusion pattern layers if the degree of confusion is to be increased.

Conventional materials may be used for the application of the various layers, and conventional printing processes may be adopted although flexography or silk screening is preferably used for the solid confusion black layer 38. The indicia layer, and any layers under it, are laid so as to bond to the substrate so as not to be removed by the abrading action.

The present invention provides the considerable advantage that standard and relatively inexpensive and commercially available materials can be used for the substrates instead of specialist light obstructing secure substrates such as foil coated board or specially adapted board. As well as saving costs, this feature also has environmental advantages .

Claims

1. A pre-paid card comprising a substrate (10) having printed indicia (32) thereon which is covered by opaque material (38, 40) which conceals the indicia and is abradable in order to reveal the indicia (32) characterised in that the substrate is non-secure and a confusion pattern layer (36) registers with the indicia (32) so that the confusion pattern (36) is not visible to the naked eye but will lead to confusion results if an attempt is made to identify the indicia by the shining of intense light through the card.

2. A pre-paid card according to claim 1 characterised in that said confusion pattern layer (36) is removable by abrasion and is applied over the indicia and is covered by the opaque abradable material.

3. A pre-paid card according to claim 1 characterised in that said confusion pattern layer is applied to the substrate prior to application of the indicia, and in that an intervening opaque layer is provided between the confusion pattern layer and the indicia layer over which the opaque abradable material is applied.

4. A pre-paid card according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the indicia (32) are comprised of alphanumeric symbols and the confusion pattern (36) is made up of symbols which in combination with the symbols of the indicia interfere therewith on candeling to render the symbols of the indicia undecipherable.

5. A pre-paid card according to any of the preceding claims characterised in that the symbols of both the indicia and the confusion pattern are arranged substantially linearly.

6. A pre-paid card according to any of the preceding claims characterised in that the card is of sandwich construction.

7. A pre-paid card according to any of the preceding claims characterised in that the substrate (10) comprises a layer of plain cardboard or paper of appropriate caliper.