CA2010338A1

CA2010338A1 - Method of producing a multiple layer identification card, an apparatus for practicing such method and an identification card

Info

Publication number: CA2010338A1
Application number: CA002010338A
Authority: CA
Inventors: John Coleman; Peter Stucki
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Orell Fussli Graphische Betriebe AG
Priority date: 1989-02-20
Filing date: 1990-02-19
Publication date: 1990-08-20
Also published as: KR900013425A; EP0384274A2; AU4987790A; IL93400A0; EP0384274A3; JPH03130196A; CH677905A5

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

The card is formed out of a plurality of foil layers which are printed by various printing technologies.
The translucent foils are printed by means of a digital printing method with earlier digitally stored informa-tion specific to the prevailing card owner. The cover foils, the base foil and further foils as well are printed by means of digital and also common printing methods as well. The card includes further in the plane of the card translucent areas which are optically scannable from the edge of the card and form optical structure data which are characteristic for each separate card.

Description

(44 936 ar A METHOD OF PRODUCING A M~LTIP~E LAYER IDENTIFICATION
CARD, AN APPARATUS FOR PRACTICING SUCH METHOD AND AN
IDENTIFICATION CARD

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method of producing a multiple layer identification card. It also refexs to an apparatus for practicing such method.
The invention relates further to an identification card produced in accordance with said method.

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

Multiple layer identification cards are generally known, whereby the expression identification card shall encompass all kinds of such cards such as identifyin~ cards, credit cards9 cards for checks, member identifications, passports, certificates, sub stitutes for msney and further voucher~ and documents as well.

The use of such identification cards is wide-spread. The safety principle of such cards is that on ~rq~033~ .

the one hand the cards carry visible and invisible safety markings which guarantee on a checkable basis their origin from a legitimate or authorized, respec-tively, card issuing place and on the other hand also features being specific to a person which prove that the respective carrier of such card is the legal carrier thereof. Features of the first mentioned kind are generally fea-tures applied by a printing technique such as safety identifications, guilloches, watermarks, etc., while the individualizing features are data re-ferring to the person, which are invisibly present on a magnetizable strip or visibly in form of an embossment, photograph or signature present on the card.
The Swiss patent specification C~-PS 646 536 discloses e.g. a three--layer card, of which the center layer is opaque and is printed in a state connected to at least one further layer with individualizing features by means of a laser beam. Accordinglyr an unauthorized access to the center layer is difficult. This procedure in accordance with the CH-PS 646 536 has, however, the drawback that it allows an achieving of relatively in-ferior picture qualities, which are of a correspondingly low value regarding safety features. Because, further-more, the card is written upon in its finally produced ~ : , . ~
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3~3 state, manipulations of such inscriptions are not impossible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A general object of the present invention is to provide a method of producing a multiple layer card as well as to provide such a card in which indi-vidualizable and genexal safety features are located on its layers which can be counterfeited with great dif-ficulties only and which can be distribu-ted in a simple way among a Flurality of layers in order to secure an as high as possible safety against a misusing of data and against counterfeitings during the production and reproduction thereof.
A further ob~ect is to provide a method of producing a multiple layer identification card which in-cludes the steps of taking up information which is specific to the card owner and to the card safety feature and of storing such information on a data carrier; of printing information read by the data carrier by means of a digital printing method onto at least one foil section; of placing the at least one foil section between a translucent cover foil, which is not printed ::
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or printed by conventional or digital or both methods with safety specific and/or other information and a base foll which is not printed or printed by conventional or digital or both methods and of connecting the at least foil section inseparably to the two foils; and of cutting or stamping the identification card in the desired form out of the composite.
This allows a printing of the individual layers separably from each other and by various printing techniques, i.e. on the one hand by a conventional safety printing and on the other hand by a digital printing.
By means of such digital printing mentioned person or carrier specific features may be produced as chromatic or achromatic gray hue pictures which are difficult to copy. The individual layers which already have been provided with safety features are interconnected in-separably not earlier than at the final interconnecting thereof. A further important advantage of the method is that the front as well as rear side of the card can be provided independently of each other with indi-vidualizing features or data, of which the comparison serves as safety feature.
Yet a further object of the invention is to pro-vide a method of producing a multiple layer identifi-... . . . . .
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cation card in which the digital real image printing is configurated as a dot overlap compensated error dif-fusion method, by means of which gray hue pictures having an excellent quality e.g. photograph-like pictures of the card owner can be generated, which are safe against a counterfeiting. The evaluation of the compensation of the digital printing method is preferably adjusted to the respective printing procedure, the printing and the printing basis which forms an additional safety element.
According to a preferred embodiment a plurality of translucent foils is present, which are printed by means of digital printing methods such as an ink jet printing method or a digital electro-graphical method such as e.g. digital laser printing, electro-erosion.
Furthermore, a further person or carrier, respective specific safety feature which is not recognizable from the outside may be formed in a plane of the card as transparent, characteristic and optically scannable inner structure. To this end e.g. light con-ductors or other optical elements can be placed into one or between the individual layers such that a optical contact for beaming light into such optical elements through the side edges of the card and for scanning the light characteristically changed by the inner structure : - , . .

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is achieved. The optical inner structure represents a coded information of the card, which can be scanned by corresponding light contacts.

BRIE.F DESCRIPTION C)F T~3E DRAWINGS

The invention will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings, wherein:
Fig. 1 is a schematic illustration of the layers of the identification card before they are con-nected to each other;
Fig. 2 is a schematic top view of a laminated card;
Figs. 3 to 6 illustrate various variants of the arrangement of light conductors between layers of the card;
Fig. 7 illustrates schematically a reading device for a card having embedded light conductors;
Fig. 8 illustrates a further variant of a reading device to cooperate with light conductors arranged in loops;

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Fig. l0 illustrates a further reading device with an abutment stop and a card with integrated opti-cal structure data;
Fig. ll is an illustration of a preferred embodiment of the embedding of the chip into a layer of ~he card; and Fig. 12 is a schematic illustration of a further preferred structure of the card.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
-Fig. l illustrates schematically layers or foils, respect1vely, of a first embodiment of the iden-tification card, where the individual foil sections are illustrated already in the shape of the final card whereagainst during an actual production of such cards initially foil sections are present which are larger than the final shape of the card.
Reference numeral 8 identifies a base foil having mainly the duty to provide the card with a sufficient mechanical rigidity. The thickness of this base foil 8 can also be selected in accordance with the ~ , , .

2G~B338 field of application of the card, whereby obviously also the number of further foils must be taken into considera-tion such ~hat ~he total thickness of the identifica-tion card remains within limits given by its specific application. The base foil 8 is made of a plastic material and can be present in a bipartite condition having an optical inner structure such as light con-ductors 24 embedded therein or may be simply a one-piece structure.
The reference numeral 2 identifies a front cover foil which consists also of a plastic material and may be equipped with a UV-filter foil 3 or a layer which includes materials which absorb UV-rays. At least one translucent foil 4 is located between the base foil 8 and the front cover foil 2.
~ his translucent foil 4 is equipped with a digital print such as will be explained in detail further below. Following this foil 4 further not particularly illustrated translucent foils may be pro-vided.
In accordance with the invention the translu-cent foil 4 and possibly further such foils are printed by a digital printing method with data which are specific to the owner or carrier, respectively, of the card and to safety measures. The expression digital printing method shall be understood as a printing method in which pictures and letters are built up by individually printed points. To this end preferably an ink jet printer of known design is used. In order to facilitate the application of the ink onto the foils these foils consist preferably of a special plastic foil, which carries a porous coating for receipt of the printing ink.
The sponge-like structured surface of such foil sucks the printing ink into the porous coating due to a capillary effect such that a flowing or blurring, re-spectively, of the ink during the printing step or by the further treating is avoided because the ink dries relatively slowly. The production of such porous or open cell, respectively, surface structures is generally known in the technical field of plastic material (see "Kunststofftaschenbuch", 16. edition, Munich 1965, P. 320 ff). If an ink jet printer is used, which operates in accordance with the hot melt ink printing method, it is also possible to use a common not coated plastic foil. The foils 2, 4 and 8 described up to now can also be printed by common printing methods such as a screen printing, offset printing, etc. such as to print e.g. texts, signatures, shadings, guilloches, ... . : :

;3 8 ornaments etc. Preferably, the common printing method is used to print patterns on the cards which are the same for all cards and to produce the card specific information by means of the digital printing method.
The digital printing method for real pictures is made in accordance with the dot overlap compensated error diffusion method. Such method is generally known and disclosed in a paper by P. Stucki, in "Advances in Digi~al Image Processing for Document Reproduction, Lecture Notes in Computer Science", No. 163, pp 256-302, "VLSI Engineering Beyond Software Engineering", Springer Publishing House 1984.
This article discloses in detail that the so-called dot overlap influences the ~uality of a digital picture, i.e. a picture set together from in-dividually printed pointsO It centers thereby around the effect that adjoining, substantially circular points of a digital picture must overlap each other partly in case a complete covering by ink shall be achieved. This overlapping thus, however, falsifies the picture because there every adjoining point does no longer supply its complete color density contribution to the picture. In order to corxect the nonlinearity of the ink covering of the picture ensuing from such effect the dot over-:- :
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lap is analytically or mathematically, respectively, taken into account and corrected in case of the digital printing. Thus r such a digital, person specific printing can be achieved in connection with the present invention, which due to the high quality of the picture is very difficult to counterfeit. It is, for instance, possible to print the photographic picture of the card owner such onto one of the foils that it achieves the quality of a real photographic picture without, however, to incorporate its safety related drawbacks ~see hereto Fig. 2).
An additional safety effect is also arrived at due to the fact that the compensation of the dot overlap depends on the respective size and shape of the dots produced during the printing and this again from the printer used and from.the kind of the substrate re-ceiving the print. Accordingly, the corresponding coefficients for the compensation are interrelated with the respective prir.ter being used and the respective foil being used. Due to this fact the suitable coef-ficients are stored in the printer control unit in a removable and exchangeable ROM-memory. This ROM-memory acts as additional safety element because without the suitable ROM-memory no sufficient digital printing . .. . . .
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331~3 quality can be arrived at due to an erroneous compensa-tion of the dot overlap.
The card illustrated in Fig. 1 has at its reverse side also at least one translucent, digitally printed foil 5 followed towards the outside by a re-verse cover foil 6 having a U~~filter 70 Due to this structure it is possible to independently print the card digitally at its front side and its back side, whereby correlatio~s between the individual information on the front and on the rear side may be applied as safety feature. Mentioned UV-filters 3, 7 are used in order to protect printing ink which fades when exposed to light such as ink from an ink jet printer. To this end a correspondingly coated foil or a foil which incor-porates UV-absorbin~ materials can be used.
Furthermore, a magnet recording track can be applied at the rear side of the card.
It already has been mentioned that the base foil 8 may in turn be made as a composite and can be provided with a transparent inner structure which is characteristic for the specific card and may be optically scanned. Such an inner structure can be applied specifl-cally by embedding a plurality of light conductors. These light conductors 24 are arranged such that their face `

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surfaces are located flush at the edge of the foil 8 such as will be described in detail further below.
Fig. 2 illustrates schematically a top view of this identification card. The base foil 8 which is translucent perpendicularly to the plane of the card is thereby printed by the text 11 and the texture 12 in a conventional manner and which are identical for all cards. The address 13 of the owner of the card, a bar code 14 and a fingerprint 15 of the card owner are printed e.g. by means of an ink jet printer onto the translucent foil 4. Possibly, furthermore, the photo-graph 16 and the signature 17 of the card owner can also be printed digitally on the card as well as the number 18 of the card. A e.g. digital printing of the rear translucent foil 5 may be visible from the rear side of the card. Specifically it is also possible to locate an area for the manual signature of the card owner on the rear side such that it can be compared with the signature printed onto the front side of the card.
The digitally printed person specific informa-tions 13, 15, 16, 17 are recorded during the taking up of the data by aid of a keyboard, a scanner, a video camera or another sensor in a digltal manner and stored digitally. During the production of the card the data - 13 ~

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2~ )33~3 processing and the printing for the foils 4, 5 and 8 may be separated completely from each other. The pro-cedure here is preferably such that an information fore-seen for one foil alone does not allow a misuse. The various layers are brought together not earlier than for an interconnecting of same and are then treated further together.
The interconnecting of the foils and the further finishing treatments such as punching, cutting out, polishing their edges etc. is made in accordance with common techniques such as e.g. by laminating.
It is, howeverj also possible to achieve an adhering by means of a resin or a lacquer.
Where the hitherto mentioned digital and con-ventional printing methods form basically visible safety features, the inventive card allows an integrating thereinto of additional not visible person specific identification features. As has already been mentioned, light conductors 24 or other optically scannable struc-tures may be built into a layer 8 to achieve such. Due to the face surfaces formed at the edges of the cards a scanning of the optical information proceeding by a making or breaking of light beams can be made by cor-responding reading apparatuses. By means of such the . .
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optical information which is integrated in the card and as such is not visible can be machine-read.
In the Figs. 3 to 6 various light conductor arrangements representing optical information carriers are illustrated exemplary. Fig. 3 illustrates additional-ly how the corresponding layer 8 of the card is produced.
First of all, a linear arrangement of the light conductors 24 is illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4.
In the arrangement in accordance with Fig. 3 the person specific coding is produced during the production by means of a severing of individual light conductors 24' by means of a mechanical cutting or a destroying by means of a laser beam such as indicated by the arrow 26 The hole 25 which then is generated in the layer 8 is re-covered during the laminating by the other foils such that the entire structure is not visible from the outside. According to Fig. 4 the code is achieved by a selective arranging of the light conductors 24. At selected raster-like arranged areas 24 there is no light conductor 24 or no light contact, respectively, which i5 recognizable by the reading apparatus.
Fig. 5 illustrates an embodiment which cooperates with a reading apparatus or reading unit, respectively, which will be explained in detail with ,: . :-, , ' reference to Figs. 8 and 9. Here one or a plurality of light conductors 24 are arranged in a loop-like manner such that the infeed and the detecting or scanning, respectively/ of the light occurs at one edge 28 only of the card. The coding is made by a selecting of the distance between the two ends of the light con-ductor at the edge 28.
Finally, Fig. 6 illustrates a combination of both modifications.
Suitable structures for the light conductors are light conducting ylass fibers having a thickness of e.g. 0.23 mm or 0.46 mm. Because these are partly pressed into the card foils during~the laminating pro-cedure the final~card remains completely planar at its surfaces. Also visua~ly the embedded fibers cannot be recognized specifically when viewing the-card from the top.
For forming the layer 8 which in itself is set together as a combination of two foils 8', 8" the light conductors 24 are arranged as described above on one of the two foils 8'. This can be made e.g. by a controlled positioning apparatus which feeds the light conductors from a roll, positions these light conductors and fixes the conductors by means of a local melting of :, . : , . - - .: : : ;~ :

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of the foil 8' or adhesive areas (see areas 30 in Fig. 5). Thereafter the foils 8', 8" are combined.
The positioning of the light conductors ean thereby be made within the limits of eonditions still to be mentioned further below by all means stochastically as long as the struetures arrived at allow an individual associating of the corresponding (random) information and accordingly of the eard to a given owner. In this case the positioning apparatus may be controlled hy a random generating unit. An absolutely random arranging of the light conductors 24 is also possible in ease of the seanning units having a eorresponding design. The arrangement of the light eon duetors forms in this ease a kind of random "fingerprint"
of the eard, whieh ean be ehecked by means of the seanning unit or apparatus, respeetively.
Figs. 7, 8 and 9 illustrate sehematically how the light conduetors embedded in the layer 8 as addi-tional safety fea~ure ean be evaluated optieally. The one side of the eard 21, at whieh the light eonduetors 24 open, is illuminated by a light source 22 in a sehematieally only illustrated reading or seanning, respeetively, apparatus 20 in accordance with Figs. 7, 8. Light sensitive elements 23 of this reading unit , 1 ~ ' ~ ' ' . . , 2~33~3 :

check then at the opposite edge of the card, at which the other ends of the light conductors end, if and at which points the light has been correctly conducted through the card, i.e. if a light contact is present.
Obviously, configurations are also possible, according to which the light source 22 can be located at the same side of the card, if the light conductor or licht con-ductors, respectively, have been arranged accordingly.
A corresponding reading unit follows specifi-cally out of Figs. 8 and 9. Here the light conductors 24 are arranged in a loop-like fashion such that both respective ends of a light conductor can be illuminated optically and scanned at the same edge of $he card.
Flg. 9 discloses speclfically which number of possibilities of variations of the inner structure data can be achieved. A card is schematically illus-trated which has a number M (in the example 4) loop-shaped arranged light conductors 24. The reading unit 20 has a number N (in the example 32) light sensitive elements 23, e.g. a linearly arranged CCD-array, which extends over a length L. Furthermore, a light source 22 is arranged at the reading unit 20 at a distance D
from the first of the light sensitive elements 23.
The light conductors 24 in the card can now be .
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arranged as such arbitrarily under the single condition that the two ends of light conductor are not closer than a distance D and not more distant than the distance L+D
at the points where they end open at the side edge of the card.
If now the card is pulled along the reading unit 20 automatically or by hand and in the direction of the arrow, every light conductor makes subsequently a light contact between the light source 22 and one of the light sensitive elements 23. Every one of the M-light conductors 24 excites accordingly during the reading one respective of the N CCD-elements. Ac-cording to this arrangement substantially NM different signal sequences are arrived at, of which each single one is characteristic for one given card. If, for instance~ M = 4 and N = 32 is chosen, such leads to substantially 324 = 1'048'576 various signal sequences.
If the distance D is selected differently in the reading units, different signal sequences for a given card are arrived at for the various different distances D such that the possibilities of variations increase still further. By means of such it is possible to specifically achieve a selective access allowance via certain scanning or reading, respectively, units in 33~

that the access allowability is excluded for certain cards or corresponding signal sequences, respectively.
The detecting or recording, respectively, of the signal sequences proceeds via a scanner 40, which scans the CCD-elements 23 in a high frequency. The scanned signals are led to a signal processing circuit 41, which derives thereout the inner structure data assigned to such respective card and provides such via a data bus 42 to a (not illustrated) calculator. These inner structure data of the card are preferably coupled to other data which are stored on the card by means of magnitizable strips 39 (see Fig. 12) or by a different procedure. This coupling can be checked in the calcula-tor. If it is discovered that the coupling is not correct, such gives an indication that the card has been manipulated.
In the above described examplè only the respective distance between the ends of the light con-ductors 24 are evaluated, but not their absolute position in the card. Accordingly, it can be declared as a rela-tive method which has tha advantage that the tolerances of the arrangements of the cards have no negative in-fluence. The scanning unit and the card can~ however, be designed also such that the absolute position of 263~331~ ~

the inner optical structure is scanned and evaluated.
Such is the case in a reading unit having an abutment stop such as schematically illustrated in Fig. 10.
In this case rather than having the light conductors, which can be arranged in accordance with the above description, other optical elements 43 are integrated in a light translucent layer of ~he card.
Such can be e~g. reflecting particles, which are ran-domly distributed in the card and form a reflecting zone.
By means of a light source 22 light is beamed into the transparent layer of the card which abuts an abutment stop 44 of the reading unit. The light reflected by the edge of the~card is scanned by means of a CCD-array 23 as intensity distribution I. This intensity dlstribution forms sort of a "fingerprint" which is characteristic for each single card. A structure data signal is derived thereof in the above earlier mentioned signal processing circuit 41, which signal can be coupled with other card specific data and can be used in this way as safety feature.
Although the design of the Layer having inte- -grated optical structure data, specifically including light conductors, is described herein in connection with a certain card design having a digital printing and is .... ..

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accordingly advantageously useable~ it shall be specifi-cally noted that light conductors of this design can also be integrated in other types of cards, specifically in the commonly known plastic cards. To this end a filing of a divisional application is distinctly re-served.
In connection with the above described inven-tion the arranging of light conductors has the advantage that aside of the person specific visible features which are distributed over a plurality of layers addi-tionally (person specific or different) invisible, fixedly integrated features can be added in a separate layer. The information contained fixedly ~herein can be coupled to other information present on the card which increases the safety against counterfeiting con-siderably.
A further embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to Figs. 11 and 12, in which embodiment an electronic circuit formed as chip 30 is integrated in the card. The translucent foil 34 supporting the chip is provided with an embossment 32 corresponding to the size of the chip, in which embossment the chip is embedded. Thereafter a covering foil 2 can be mounted over the chip supporting foil 34.

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In comparison with the earlier merely bonding of a chip between two foils by means of a bonding agent the chip 30 is better protected against intrusions and it is possible to produce a planar card~ The foil 34 supporting the chip can be connected specifically at the end to the other layer.
In Fig. 12 a schematic structure of a card having such a chip-card is illustrated. The following foils or layers, respectively, are present proceeding from the top to the bottom. The cover foil 2 supports the connections for the chip 30 and can be equipped with a UV-filter foil or layer. It is followed by the translucent (transparent) foil 34 supporting the chip as well as by one or two translucent foils 4 which are individualized by means of a digital print. Light con-ductors 24 acting as person specific safety feature are located in the base foil 8 in accordance with above described procedure. It is followed again by one or two foils 5 which are individuali2ed by rear surface infor-mation applied by means of a digital printing as well as by a rear cover foil 6 acting as protective layer in-cluding or without a UV-filter, onto which a magnetic tape 39 is bonded. Such as is the case ~n the initial-ly explained embodiment, the foils are provided also here .. . .

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singly in the described procedure with person specific safety features, which accordingly are distributed among several layers and connected thereafter to each other.
The card produced in accordance with the in-vention incorporates in comparison with known cards a largely increased safety against counterfeiting or forgery due to the several individualizing features located on independently from each other produced foils but still having a relation among each other. Further-more, various techniques can be combined such as con-ventional safety printing, digital printing, arranging of light conductors which makes a forgery unthinkable because it is possible to proceed along separate lines within the organization of the production of the card, which lines are led together not earlier than at the end of the production.
While there are shown and described present preferred embodiments of the invention, it is to be distinctly understood that the invention is not limited thereto, but may be otherwise variously embodied and practiced within the scope of the following claims.

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Claims

1. A method of producing a multiple layer identification card, comprising the steps of taking up information which is specific to the card owner and to the card safety feature and of storing such information on a data carrier;
of printing information read by said data carrier by means of a digital printing method onto at least one foil section;
of placing said at least one foil section between a translucent cover foil which is not printed or printed by conventional or digital or both methods with safety specific and/or other information and a base foil which is not printed or printed by conventional or digital or both methods and of connecting said at least one foil section unseparably to said two foils;
and of cutting or stamping the identification card in the desired form out of the composite.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital real image printing method is configurated as a dot overlap compensated error diffusion method.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the evalua-tion of the compensation of the digital printing method is controlled dependent on the respective utilized printer or the respective applied direct printing method.

4. The method of claim 1, in which the digital printing method is selectively executed chromatic or achromatic.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a UV-filter is placed at the outer side of said at least one translucent foil.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one further translucent foil is placed between said at least one translucent foil and said base foil.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein an ink jet printing is used as digital printing method.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein a hot melt ink printing is used.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein an electro-graphical method is used as printing method.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said card comprises further translucent areas in the plane of the card which form optically scannable structures and wherein the side edges of the card are accessible for the establishing of a light contact for a determining of the card specific optical structure data.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein at least one light conductor is arranged as optically scannable structure.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the arrangement of said at least one or of several light conductors is such that an information is represented which is coupled to a card specific information stored on the card.

13. An apparatus for practicing the method of claim 1, comprising a digital printer including a printer control unit for the controlling of the dot overlap compensation, and wherein an exchangeable con-stant value storage for the compensation evaluating values is arranged in the printer control unit.

14. An identification card, produced in accordance with the method of claim 1.

15. An identification card, comprising at least one foil embedded in the card which includes transparent zones in the plane of the card which form optically scannable structures from which optical structure data are readable by means of an optical scanning.

16. The identification card of claim 15, com-prising a plurality of light conductors embedded in the card which are selectively severable to interrupt the transmission of light therethrough allowing an indi-vidualizing of every card.

17. The identification card of claim 15, com-prising one or a plurality of optical conductors which are arranged such that the light contacts producible at the face surfaces of the card display an information which individualizes the card.

18. The identification card of claim 17, in which the one or plurality, respectively, of the optical conductors are arranged such that the information displayable therewith is controllably interrelated with at least one further information present on the card.

19. The identification card of claim 15, wherein at least one foil is arranged for a chip-like electrical circuit, which foil includes an embossment for embedding said chip-like electrical circuit at a surface of the foil.