Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
  • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
  • G11B7/00—Recording or reproducing by optical means, e.g. recording using a thermal beam of optical radiation by modifying optical properties or the physical structure, reproducing using an optical beam at lower power by sensing optical properties; Record carriers therefor
  • G11B7/002—Recording, reproducing or erasing systems characterised by the shape or form of the carrier
  • G11B7/0033—Recording, reproducing or erasing systems characterised by the shape or form of the carrier with cards or other card-like flat carriers, e.g. flat sheets of optical film
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06K—GRAPHICAL DATA READING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
  • G06K19/00—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings
  • G06K19/06—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code
  • G06K19/08—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code using markings of different kinds or more than one marking of the same kind in the same record carrier, e.g. one marking being sensed by optical and the other by magnetic means
  • G06K19/10—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code using markings of different kinds or more than one marking of the same kind in the same record carrier, e.g. one marking being sensed by optical and the other by magnetic means at least one kind of marking being used for authentication, e.g. of credit or identity cards
  • G06K19/14—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code using markings of different kinds or more than one marking of the same kind in the same record carrier, e.g. one marking being sensed by optical and the other by magnetic means at least one kind of marking being used for authentication, e.g. of credit or identity cards the marking being sensed by radiation
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
  • G07C—TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE
  • G07C9/00—Individual registration on entry or exit
  • G07C9/20—Individual registration on entry or exit involving the use of a pass
  • G07C9/22—Individual registration on entry or exit involving the use of a pass in combination with an identity check of the pass holder
  • G07C9/25—Individual registration on entry or exit involving the use of a pass in combination with an identity check of the pass holder using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voice recognition
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
  • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
  • G11B7/00—Recording or reproducing by optical means, e.g. recording using a thermal beam of optical radiation by modifying optical properties or the physical structure, reproducing using an optical beam at lower power by sensing optical properties; Record carriers therefor
  • G11B7/24—Record carriers characterised by shape, structure or physical properties, or by the selection of the material

Definitions

• the invention relates to personal identification cards and more particularly to a data card which can be used in an automatic teller machine and the like.
• the ATM is installed within the walls of the bank. This is done for two reasons. First, the ATMs have a lot of money. Second, access to the ATMs is strictly controlled, including access to the communication links. Thus, there is not only a requirement for physical security on account of the money involved, but there is also a requirement for communications security because communication devices grant access to the money. It is widely recognized that communications security is one of the weak links in ATM banking. In order to improve communications security, most banks have adopted data encryption between the ATM and the CPU. The problem with data encryption is that it makes system maintenance more complicated and makes the ATM machines themselves more cumbersome. Furthermore, a new security problem is created, namely security for the encryption system. The security for the cryptographic devices must be almost as great as for the ATM itself, since these devices contain the clear data. A solution is to build such devices into the ATM so that data emerging from the ATM is encrypted.
• the above objects have been met with a high information capacity data card for use with a card reader associated with ATMs and similar devices.
• the data card is a wallet-size card, such as a credit card with a data strip on the card, preferably parallel to the lengthwise dimension of the card.
• the strip comprise a high resolution, high capacity, reflective laser recording material.
• the laser recording material is intended as a record for passbook banking. In other words, a passbook type of record will be contained on the strip, with all deposits, withdrawals, interest payments and service charges.
• This data can be entered by an ATM which reads the strip for user identification and current data, then updates the current data with laser writing.
• One of the chief advantages of the present invention is the high information capacity of laser recording media strips.
• high resolution laser recording materials record pits having dimensions on the order of several microns or tens of microns.
• a high capacity laser recording material strip enables a credit card to carry the equivalent of scores of pages of text, more than ample for passbook banking applications, identification and similar ises.
• Fig. 1 is a plan view of one side of a data card in accord with the present invention
• Fig. 2 is a partial side sectional view taken along lines 2—2 in
• Fig. 3 is a detail of laser writing on a portion of the laser recording strip illustrated by dashed lines in Fig. 1.
• Fig. 4 is a plan view of an apparatus for reading and writing on the optical recording media strip illustrated in Fig. 1.
• a data card 11 is illustrated having a size common to most credit cards.
• the width dimension of such a card is approximately 54 mm and the length dimension is approximately
• the , card's base 13 is a dielectric, usually a plastic material such as polyvinyl chloride or similar material.
• the surface finish of the base should have low specular reflectivity, preferably less than 10%.
• Base 13 has a shallow groove which carries strip 15.
• the strip is about 15 millimeters wide and extends the length of the card. Alternatively, the strip may have other sizes and orientations.
• the strip is relatively thin, approximately 100-500 microns, although this is not critical.
• the strip may be applied to the card by any convenient method which achieves flatness.
• the strip is adhered to the card with an adhesive and covered by a transparent laminating sheet 19 which serves to keep strip 15 flat, as well as protecting the strip from dust and scratches.
• Sheet 19 is a thin, transparent plastic sheet laminating material or a coating, such as a transparent laquer.
• the opposite side of base 13 may have user identification indicia embossed on the surface of the card. Other indicia such as card expiration data, card number and the like may be optionally provided.
• the high resolution laser recording material which forms strip
• the 15 may be any of the reflective recording materials which have been developed for use as direct read-after-write (DRAW) optical disks, so long as the materials can be formed on thin substrates.
• DRAW direct read-after-write
• An advantage of reflective materials over transmissive materials is that the read/write equipment is all on one side of the card and automatic focus is easier.
• the high resolution material described in U.S. patent 4,230,939 issued to de Bont, et al. teaches a thin m etallic recording layer of reflective metals such as Bi, Te, Ind, Sn, Cu, Al, Pt, Au, Rh, As, Sb, Ge, Se, Ga. Materials which are preferred are those having high reflectivity and low melting point, particularly Cd, Sn, Tl, Ind, Bi and amalgams.
• Suspensions of reflective metal particles in organic colloids also form low melting temperature laser recording media.
• the laser recording material which is selected should be compatible with the laser which is used for writing on it. Some materials are more sensitive than others at certain wavelengths. Good sensitivity to infrared light is preferred because infrared is affected least by scratches and dirt on the transparent laminating sheet.
• the selected recording material should have a favorable signal-to-noise ratio with the read/write system with which it is used.
• Reflectivity should be at least 15% and preferably greater than 25%. Reflectivity of about 50% is preferred with reflectivity of a pit in the reflective material being less than 10%.
• the dashed line 33 corresponds to the dashed line 33 in Fig. 1.
• the oblong pits 35 are aligned in a path and have generally similar dimensions;
• the pits are generally circular or oval in shape with the .axis of the oval perpendicular to the lengthwise dimension of the strip.
• a second group of pits 37 is shown aligned in a second path.
• the pits 37 have similar dimensions to the pits 35.
• the spacing between paths is not critical, except that the optics of the readback system should be able to easily distinguish between paths.
• tracks which are separated by only a few microns may be resolved.
• the spacing and pattern of the pits along each path is selected for easy decoding.
• oval pits of the type shown can be clustered and spaced in accord with self-clocking bar codes. If variations in the dimensions of a pit are required, such dimensions can be achieved by clustering pits, such as the double pit 39.
• Such variations are used in the ETAB bar code which is described in U.S. patent 4,245,152. While the American Bankers' Association has not yet adopted any particular code, the strip material is such that many machine and eye readable codes can be accommodated.
• Some optical codes such as the Universal Product Code are both machine and eye readable.
• the pits illustrated in Fig. 3 have a recommended size of approximately 5 microns by 20 microns, or circular pits 5 microns or 10 microns in diameter. Generally, the smallest dimension of a pit should be less than 50 microns. In the preferred embodiment the largest dimension would also be less than 50 microns.
• the size of the strip 15 or 25 could be expanded to the point where it covers a large extent of the card. In Fig. 1, the laser recording strip 25 could completely cover a single side of the card.
• FIG. 4 a side view of the lengthwise dimension of a card 41 is shown.
• the card is usually received in a movable holder 42 which brings the card into the beam trajectory.
• a laser light source 43 preferably a pulsed semiconductor laser of infrared wavelength emits a beam 45 which passes through collimating and focussing optics 47.
• the beam is sampled by a beam splitter 49 which transmits a portion of the beam through a focusing lens 51 to a photodetector 53.
• the detector 53 confirms laser writing and is not essential.
• the beam is then directed to a first servo controlled mirror 55 which is mounted for rotation along the axis 57 in the direction indicated by the arrows A.
• the purpose of the mirror 55 is to find the lateral edges of the laser recording material in a coarse mode of operation and then in a fine mode of operation identify data paths which exist predetermined distances from the edges.
• mirror 55 From mirror 55, the beam is directed toward mirror 61. This mirror is mounted for rotation at pivot 63.
• the purpose of mirror 55 is for fine control of motion of the beam along the length of the card. Coarse control of the lengthwise position of the card relative to the beam is achieved by motion of movable holder 42.
• the position of the holder may be established by a linear motor adjusted by a closed loop position servo system of the type used in magnetic disk drives. Reference position information may be prerecorded on the card so that position error signals may be generated and used as feedback in motor control.
• the mirror 55 Upon reading one data path, the mirror 55 is slightly rotated. The motor moves holder 41 lengthwise so that the path can be read, and so on.
• the reflectivity of the beam changes relative to surrounding material where no pits exist.
• the beam should deliver sufficient laser pulse energy to the surface of the recording material to create pits. Typically, 5—10 milliwatts is required, depending on the recording material.
• the wavelength of the laser should be compatible with the recording material.
• power is lowered to about 5% of the record power.
• Differences in reflectivity between a pit and surrounding material are detected by light detector 65 which may be a photodiode.
• Light is focussed onto detector 65 by beam splitter 67 and focusing lens 69.
• Servo motors not shown, control the positions of the mirrors and drive the mirrors in accord with instructions received from control circuits, as well as from feedback devices.
• the detector 65 produces electrical signals corresponding to pits. These signals are process-ed and recorded for subsequent display as useful information regarding the transaction recorded on the card.
• the card of the present invention could be used just like a passbook. First the card is read to determine previously recorded information. Next, a user enters his transaction and if validated by an ATM, the ATM then causes data to be written on the first strip by means of the laser. The data represents a passbook entry with a new account status. Operating in this mode, a user may use the card of the present invention in free standing ATMs in isolated locations. While it is necessary for the ATM to make a record of each transaction, there is no need to transmit transaction data using telecommunication links to a CPU at a distant location.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Credit Cards Or The Like (AREA)
• Financial Or Insurance-Related Operations Such As Payment And Settlement (AREA)
• Cameras Adapted For Combination With Other Photographic Or Optical Apparatuses (AREA)
• Optical Record Carriers And Manufacture Thereof (AREA)
• Optical Recording Or Reproduction (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

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ID=22899519

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (8)

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Citations (2)

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• 1982
  • 1982-02-12 WO PCT/US1982/000188 patent/WO1982002969A1/fr not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1982-02-12 BR BR8206514A patent/BR8206514A/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1982-02-12 JP JP57501044A patent/JPS58500437A/ja active Granted
  • 1982-02-12 AU AU82725/82A patent/AU549957B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 1982-02-12 EP EP19820901057 patent/EP0072854A4/fr not_active Ceased
  • 1982-02-17 IL IL65034A patent/IL65034A/xx not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1982-02-26 ES ES509950A patent/ES8308112A1/es not_active Expired
  • 1982-02-26 MX MX191606A patent/MX155913A/es unknown

Patent Citations (2)

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