JPH01278397A - Card and method for discriminating kind thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simply discriminate forgery by making a card hard to forge, by reading kind discrimination data optically by utilizing the difference of reflectivity between the wavelengths of two or more places. CONSTITUTION:Data for confirming the kind of a card is printed on the surface of a substrate 10 and contains first data pattern 14 for preventing forgery and the second data pattern 16 of dummy data. A discrimination data reading apparatus is constituted so that the first data pattern 14 printed by special ink is irradiated with light or laser containing a specific wavelength and only the reflected light having specific wavelength is detected to read discrimination data. The first data pattern 14 is irradiated with light having a wavelength of 650nm or more in the wavelength region of the reflecting spectrum of the special ink and light having the wavelength within the wavelength region of the absorption spectrum of the special ink and the intensities of the reflected lights are measured at every wavelengths to read the difference between the intensities of lights. When the difference between the intensities of the reflected lights at two places does not exceed a definite threshold value, a forged card is discriminated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to cards such as magnetic recording cards, and more particularly to cards on which information identifying the type of card is printed.

[Conventional technology] In recent years, so-called prepaid cards that allow you to pay in advance,
Magnetic cards are often used. This type of magnetic card has a magnetic recording layer laminated on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate, and data is recorded by selectively magnetizing portions of the magnetic recording layer. The magnetic card is
Various designs and the like are printed on the surface of the card, along with information for mechanically identifying the type of card. General consumers identify the type of magnetic card by such a pattern. Magnetic cards are thus distributed in the market as a kind of cash voucher, and since the cards have interesting designs, transactions are also conducted for the purpose of the cards themselves. Particularly recently, with the advent of expensive magnetic cards, there are cases where cards are counterfeited by printing a pattern on a card substrate made of the same material using photolithography or the like. In such cases, the counterfeit card cannot be easily identified because it appears to be false.Therefore, there is a need for technology that can easily identify counterfeit cards and prevent card counterfeiting. There is.

Techniques for preventing such counterfeiting of magnetic cards include JP-A-61-13394, ``Magnetic Recording Card and its Data Recording Method'', JP-A-62-35892, ``Shopping Card'', and JP-A-62-35892, ``Shopping Cards''. No. 13394 "Card J" is known. These cards are provided with an invisible light identification recording section, and this invisible light identification recording section prints a mark on the card surface using infrared light absorbing ink, and the visible light absorbing ink is printed on the card surface. It is formed by covering up this mark with ink.

This card prevents counterfeiting by making the mark invisible. Reading the mark, that is, identifying whether the card is a counterfeit card or not, is done by irradiating the mark with infrared rays and determining the light reflected from the mark.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the forgery prevention technology described above, since the mark is not visually identified, card forgery is prevented. However, once the mark is identified by some method, the part of the card that corresponds to the invisible light identification recording section will be able to create a pattern similar to this mark in either white (full wavelength reflection) or black (full wavelength absorption). It can be easily formed by printing with ordinary ink. Therefore, the conventional technology has had the problem that once the mark has been identified, the magnetic card can be easily counterfeited.

This invention was made based on the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a card such as a magnetic card that cannot be easily counterfeited under any circumstances, and to provide a card such as a magnetic card that cannot be easily counterfeited under any circumstances. The purpose is to provide a method for easily identifying whether or not the

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, in the card according to the present invention, type identification information is provided using ink having spectral characteristics that exhibit different reflectances at two or more wavelengths. It is characterized in that it is printed and the type can be identified by optically reading the type identification information using the difference in reflectance between the respective wavelengths.

Further, in the method for identifying the type of card according to the present invention for preventing counterfeiting, information for identifying the type is printed using ink having spectral characteristics that exhibit different reflectances at two or more predetermined wavelengths. a step of irradiating light including each of the predetermined wavelengths toward the information for identifying the type of the card; a step of detecting reflected light of each of the predetermined wavelengths from the card; and a step of respectively detecting the reflected light of the predetermined wavelengths from the card. The method is characterized by comprising a step of reading the type identification information by recognizing the difference in the intensity of each reflected light at different wavelengths.

[Example] A card that is an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a magnetic card, which is a card according to the present invention;
In particular, a type identification part for identifying the type is shown. The magnetic card includes a white substrate 10 made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and a magnetic recording layer 12 is provided on the back surface of the substrate 10. In the magnetic card, data is recorded on or reproduced from the magnetic recording layer 12 by a recording/reproducing device (not shown). Information for confirming the type of card, such as a bar code for optical reading, is printed on the surface of the board 10.
This information includes a first information pattern 14, which is information for preventing forgery, and a second information pattern 16, which is so-called dummy information. These information patterns may be not only barcodes but also letters, numbers, and others.

Dummy information, ie, a second information pattern 16 that is not used as true identification information, is printed on the substrate using conventional plain ink. In the case of this embodiment, the ordinary ink contains carbon as a colorant. In terms of spectral characteristics, carbon has an absorption spectrum in all wavelength regions, and therefore, the second information pattern 16 printed with ordinary ink also has reflection characteristics corresponding to this.

On the other hand, the first information pattern 14, which serves as true identification information, is printed on the substrate using special ink. Special ink is one that contains a fluoran compound as a colorant, and this fluoran compound has a spectral property of 4.
It has reflection characteristics in wavelength regions around 00 nm, around 500 nm, and over 650 nm. Therefore, the first information pattern 14 printed using this special ink
is different from those printed using traditional ink,
It has reflection characteristics in the wavelength range of around 400 nm, around 500 nm, and 650 nm or more, and has absorption characteristics in other wavelength regions.

In FIG. 2, the spectral characteristics of special ink and ordinary ink are shown together with the spectral characteristics of a white substrate. As is clear from the figure, the white substrate has a high reflectance of about 80% in all wavelength regions, whereas in ordinary ink containing carbon, carbon has absorption properties. Therefore, it has a low reflectance of 10% or less in all wavelength regions. The spectral characteristics of special ink are different from those of ordinary ink, and the spectral characteristics are around 400 nm and 500 nm.
The reflectance is relatively large in the wavelength region around 650 nm, and is also large in the wavelength region exceeding 650 nm.

The type identification part on which the first information pattern 14 and the second information pattern 16 are printed can be camouflaged by incorporating it into a part of the picture, for example, so that it is difficult to visually identify it. . In order to make the information pattern difficult to visually identify, in addition to camouflaging it with a picture or the like, the surface of the card may be printed in a color that is particularly similar to the color of the first information pattern under a visible light source.

Next, a method for identifying the type of a magnetic card on which type identification information as described above is printed to prevent forgery and confirming that it is not forged will be described. An optical identification information reading device is used to read this type identification information. The identification information reading device irradiates the type identification part of the magnetic card, particularly the first information pattern 14 printed with special ink, with light containing a specific wavelength or a laser, and detects only the reflected light of the specific wavelength. The identification information is read by detecting the information, and conventionally known devices can be used.

To identify the type of magnetic card, use light with a wavelength of 650 nm or more in the wavelength range of the reflection spectrum of the special ink, for example 700 nm, or a laser beam, and a wavelength range of the absorption spectrum of the special ink (650 nm or more, 400 nm or more). (wavelength range excluding around 50 Onm)
For example, the first information pattern 14 is irradiated with light with a wavelength of 600 nm or a laser beam, and the intensity of the reflected light is measured for each previous wavelength to determine the intensity of the light between them. Read the difference.

If the difference in the intensity of reflected light measured at these two wavelengths does not exceed a certain threshold, the card is identified as a counterfeit card. As is clear from Figure 2, the threshold value in this case is significantly smaller than the difference between the intensity of light at a wavelength of 700 nm and the intensity of light at 600 nm, and also within the range of measurement tolerance. Can be a large value.

Another way to confirm that the card is not a forgery is to use a reading device as well, and use a special ink in the wavelength range of the reflection spectrum (650nm or more, 400nm or more).
For example, at least two wavelengths of 700 nm and 400 nm (in the region around
It is also possible to identify a counterfeit card by illuminating the information pattern 14 of the card and reading out the information from the reflected light, which differs depending on the wavelength. Moreover, a method combining these methods can also be used.

In addition, regular ink contains carbon and absorbs light at all wavelengths, so when reading information printed with special ink, information printed with regular ink may be read incorrectly, and power (do not have.

3 to 7 show variations of the card according to the invention. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the card has information patterns 14 and 16, which are card type identification parts, printed on the front surface of the substrate 10, but no magnetic recording layer is provided on the back surface of the card. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the magnetic recording layer 12 is provided on the surface of the substrate, and the information patterns 14, 16 are printed on the magnetic recording layer 12. 5 to 7 are modified examples corresponding to the examples shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3, and FIG. 4, respectively, in which the information patterns 14 and 16 are covered by the hiding layer 18. The only difference is that.

In these variants, the information patterns 14, 16 are covered with a concealing layer so that they cannot be visually discerned.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but can be modified in various ways within the scope of the present invention. For example, the card substrate may be made of other materials such as paper;
In addition to the above examples, the card structure may include a magnetic layer, a thermal layer, a heat-sensitive transfer layer, a protective varnish layer, a barcode printing, etc. on the front or back surface of the substrate. The information pattern may be printed by any of offset printing, silk printing, gravure printing, letterpress printing, etc.

In addition, normal ink has a wavelength of around 400nm, 500nm, for example.
It may be one that does not particularly contain carbon, as long as it has an absorption spectrum in a part of each wavelength region near m and 650 nm or more, and has a difference in reflectance from special ink. Further, the above-mentioned card is not limited to a magnetic card, and may be a security such as a stock certificate or a bond, a lottery ticket, a lottery ticket, etc. having a similar structure.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the magnetic card according to the present invention has a type identification part having an information pattern for preventing counterfeiting, and this type identification part is camouflaged by the pattern on other parts of the card. It is visually identifiable and difficult to forge. Further, the anti-counterfeit information pattern of the type identification section includes a first information pattern as true anti-counterfeit information and a second information pattern as dummy information. The dummy second information pattern is printed using ordinary ink, and there is a high possibility that a counterfeiter will misidentify this second information pattern as a pattern for confirming the card type. The first information pattern as true identification information for preventing counterfeiting is printed on the board using special ink, and identification of the card type and checking for counterfeit cards are performed using the information pattern printed using the special ink. This is done by checking. Even if the information pattern is exactly the same as the first information pattern as the counterfeit prevention information, it cannot be identified as a counterfeit card by the reader unless it is printed with special ink that can be identified by the reader. can. This special ink is generally difficult to obtain, and therefore, even if this anti-counterfeit information pattern is deciphered, it is almost impossible to forge a card. Therefore, the present invention makes it possible to provide a card that cannot be easily forged under any circumstances, and also provides a method for easily identifying whether a card is forged or not. It becomes possible.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing the structure of a card that is an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
Graphs showing the spectral characteristics of the special ink used to print the information pattern for type identification to prevent counterfeiting, FIGS. Schematic cross-sectional view similar to the figure. 10... Substrate, 12... Magnetic recording layer, 14.16.
...Information pattern. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 3 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a card having information printed on its surface, the information for type identification is printed using ink having spectral characteristics that exhibit different reflectances at two or more wavelengths. The card is characterized in that the type of the card can be identified by optically reading the type identification information using the difference in reflectance between the respective wavelengths. 2. The type identification information printed using the ink is
2. The card according to claim 1, wherein the card is printed in such a way that it is difficult to visually identify the card when the information on the entire card is viewed in combination with other information on the card. 3. The card according to claim 1, wherein the card further includes a concealing layer that hides the type identification information printed with the ink so that it cannot be visually identified. 4. For cards in which type identification information is printed using ink having spectral characteristics that exhibit different reflectances at two or more predetermined wavelengths, light containing each of the predetermined wavelengths is used for the type identification of the card. a step of emitting light toward the information of the card, a step of detecting the reflected light of each of the predetermined wavelengths from the card, and a step of recognizing the difference in the intensity of the respective reflected light at each of the predetermined wavelengths, A method for identifying the type of card, comprising the step of reading identification information.